Causality
by phantomgamer01
Summary: SEQUEL TO "Look to the Future". Naruto is given the gifts of both life and knowledge. Whether he knows or not, every action has a reaction, how much can change exactly with the presence of a single blonde? A lot can...but not everything does.
1. Chapter 1

Author: Wow...I've been a really bad author about this haven't I? Heh heh, I'm pretty sure all of you are trying to figure out what happened at the end of Look to the Future...and well, the answer is that it ended on a really messed up cliffhanger meant to leave you sleepless for many...many nights until I got over my Shika-mitis and started writing again.

I would like to remind you though to...

**READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CHAPTERS**

I said quite a few times that there would be a sequel and you bad readers out there didn't have faith in me [sob], well this is your punishment as I am now out of witness protection...and happy that none of you tried to kill me...unlike my Inuyasha fic readers who think that death threats are really funny...even though they seem to be working.

The reason this took so long is well...I got a PS2 and .hackInfection...O.o that is so addictive, but I finished it today and am not sure when I'm gonna get Mutation...I'm sure you'll know...lol.

Other than that...here is the first chapter to the sequel of Look to the Future, Enjoy!

**Songs Needed**:  
"Evening", Soundtrack 1, Track 14  
"Glued State", Soundtrack 1, Track 15  
"Morning", Soundtrack 1, Track 4  
"Nine Tail Demon Fox", Soundtrack 1, Track 3  
"Loneliness", Soundtrack 1, Track 9

Chapter 1:

_(cue "Evening")_

Naruto sat alone in the white lobby that was being used temporarily as a waiting room, shivering in anxiety as the events of what he was sure was the past 15 minutes or so, replayed through his mind. His arms and body shook more from the shock of seeing an unconscious and barely breathing Tsunade, than from the strain of carrying her here in the first place. His wide, anxious eyes, absorbed the blaring light the white walls and floor reflected as his worry continued to deepen.

Another minute passed and there was still no news on her condition. At first the nurses were skeptical when he said the elderly woman he brought in was none other than the Hokage, but seeing when a passing doctor noticed the seal on her forehead as the one of none other than Tsunade, she was immediately given the best of care. Even though he hadn't seen any, Naruto was sure there were countless ANBU somewhere in the vicinity of the injured Hokage trying desperately to figure out what was going on.

He wanted to go see her but they kept telling him that she was in emergency care for the moment to see what had happened, and was unable to be bothered. Naruto cursed silently, bringing his heightened agitation to a slightly lower level and fidgeted around with his hands to calm his nerves.

He noticed the sound of crumpling paper, then looked down to see the balled up remains of an otherwise neatly folded piece of paper, white with red rims.

'The piece of paper she was holding on to...'

Curiosity triumphed over shock and the young, disheveled boy began to straighten out the paper. He nearly dropped it when he saw the word "Naruto" written on the outside, in bold black ink, looking slightly hasted.

He gulped a bit before unfolding the crumpled note to read the message, seemingly scratched on in the same haste as the title.

_Naruto..._

_I'm not sure what exactly you're going through right now, and I'm not sure if there is much I could do if I even know. If you're reading this, then that is some good news. I'm watching you go through whatever your gong through right now even though you can't sense my presence, just remember that I'm here for you. From my travels, I've seen that sometimes...people need to see what they can lose the hard way before they realize all they have...I don't want you to lose everything and never get another chance at it, that's why I'm about to do this for you._

_What you have seen is a glimpse into what could have been the future Naruto-kun, and I'm not sure if what you saw has comforted you or not, but I hope that it has. I don't think I have much time before I do this, so, tell Shizune that she is active Hokage for now, and tell her that I used the Timeless Eye...she'll tell you about it then..._

_I'm sorry Naruto-kun...I hope things get better for you...you have too much to lose, rather you realize it or not._

_Tsunade_

Naruto blinked a few times out of initial confusion before skimming over the letter a few more times, trying desperately to piece together everything that had happened to him, and fit it along with what the letter said.

_(end "Evening")_

"I'm sorry Shizune-san, but she is in emergency treatment right now and she is in no condition to receive visitors, I'm going to have to ask you to sit in the lobby until everything is under control."

Naruto looked up, pulled out of his thoughts before seeing a very distraught Shizune standing over a very tired looking receptionist.

Recalling Tsunade's request to talk to the woman, Naruto rose his hand in the air, not quite able to find his voice yet.

It wasn't until Shizune looked to the direction of the lobby the receptionist was now pointing at, that she saw the tired boy donned in none other than a rather dirty orange jumpsuit.

She heaved a sigh before walking over to the young boy who looked, quite possibly, more mentally tired than her.

"Hello Naruto-kun..."

She managed to get the words out when she reached the lobby trying to keep her cool even though her best friend and mentor was now in the hospital in critical condition with no explanation as to why.

Naruto wasn't smiling...but then again neither was Shizune...or the receptionist...or anyone else within visible range. Shizune learned why when she tried to force a grin and only found it to be severely unfitting to the fragile atmosphere.

She was about to speak again to the silent boy when he pushed a crumpled piece or paper towards her with a bit of force, turning away and biting on the inside of his cheek to stifle his sobs.

She gasped at the suddenness before pulling the piece of paper out of the blondes hand and unraveled it, truly noticing the silence as it was broken by the abused sheet. Naruto kept his eyes focused on the ground as Shizune's eyes skimmed over the page. It was with a slight gasp that Naruto realized she had reached the critical point of the message, he prepared himself mentally to speak while she finished up the last of the letter.

"W-what is..."

He stammered.

_(cue "Glued State")_

"...the Timeless Eye..."

Shizune interrupted in a nearly dead tone, stopping to sigh and drawing the younger nin's gaze.

"It's a kinjutsu that very few people know and have the capability of performing."

Naruto wanted to speak, but found himself still speechless, allowing her to continue.

"She told me about it once...something she picked up on her travels, I never pressed her on how she got to learn it though. She told me that it uses one's chakra to mold itself over time itself, copy it, alter it in any way, then show it to another as a vision. Basically it's a really advanced genjutsu that not even Orochimaru knows about."

She took the puzzled look on the abnormally mute blonde's face as a request to explain deeper.

"What she did was show you what could have happened in the future, if you would have done whatever it was you would have done. Its the reason that she's in the condition she is in now, its also the reason very few know the technique..."

"W-whadya mean?"

Naruto finally found his voice, but both were far too absorbed to notice.

"It causes the user to fall into a coma because the human consciousness is not built to comprehend time itself...it's a wonder that such a jutsu was able to be developed in the first place."

"S-she'll wake up right?"

Naruto was beginning to sound a bit frantic, Shizune couldn't blame him for she felt the same way...but she had a job to do now.

"Maybe..."

Naruto looked down to the ground before all but collapsing onto the chair behind him as he replayed everything over again.

"Naruto-kun..."

He didn't hear Shizune the first time she called, it wasn't until the third time that his name passed her lips that he recognized that she was demanding his attention. He looked up, a bit startled by her forceful tone.

The forceful tone in her voice was matched by a forceful look on her face.

"Naruto-kun...for the safety of Konohakagure...I have to ask you what you saw in the vision she showed you."

"Huh?"

"I-I am acting Hokage for the time being Naruto-kun...I need to know if there was any kind of threat that I need to be aware of. Was there anything you saw in your vision that I need to be aware of?"

Her voice shook a little when she initially stuttered, but she forced it away as she continued. Standing suddenly professionally, she looked down over the boy, doing what she was sure her best friend would want.

"...No...there was nothing you need to worry about...at least nothing I saw. I only saw tomorrow and something years down the road..."

He looked up to see her a bit confused, her mouth forming to pose a question.

"...Everything looked fine 18 year from now..."

She sighed in relief before sitting down next to him.

_(end "Glued State")_

"Do you need to talk about what you saw?"

He looked up at her, noticing the genuine concern that flowed through her voice, replacing the stern voice necessary to lead a village. Genuine concern directed at him...for him...trying to comfort him. It was nice, he had to admit, to see such a thing come from her, he wasn't sure if she had ever been this nice to him or if he had just taken it for granted in the past.

He smiled, not a forced grin, or even a fake ear-to-ear smile, but a true smile that was really only a slight curling of his lips. But that was all it took.

"No, I'm fine...but...thank you. It means a lot to me..."

Shizune smiled back at the boy before getting back up.

"When are you going home tonight?"

"Well...I was gonna stay here the whole time, in case she wakes up tonight."

"Naruto-kun..."

"Yes Shizune-san?"

"I'm going to have to ask you not to do that..."

_(cue "Morning")_

"Huh?!" Naruto jumped to his feet, fatigue forgotten, as his voice started to border along the lines of an uncomfortable volume.

Shizune remained facing away from him as she spoke.

"You have to meet with your team tomorrow morning right?"

"Well...yeah...but she's much more important that going to go pick weeds in some ladies garden. I thought you would understand that."

"I know how you feel Naruto...but we all have our duties...and we must make sure that we attend to them...that's what she would want."

Naruto was about to say something, before he realized that he didn't know what to say in response. Instead, he crossed his arms over his chest and gave a pouting sigh.

"I'm not going. I'll stay here until she wakes up...I owe her that."

"Naruto-kun..."

He didn't respond.

"...do you still want to become Hokage?"

Naruto's attention was immediately brought back to the woman before him.

"Of course!"

"Then go home and make sure you report to your sensei at the appointed time."

Her reward was another pout.

"She always tells me that she wants to see you succeed at becoming Hokage Naruto-kun...she wants to see you reach your dream while she's still here. She wants to be the one who awards you the title...but Naruto-kun...skipping missions and forgetting your duties is not going to get you there."

"...but..."

"Naruto-kun...you were right...I do understand that you want to be here when she wakes up...so do I...but she left me with a job to do, and I have to do it. Just as you have a job to do that you can't ignore...do you understand?"

Naruto dropped his arms sighing in defeat, mumbling the word "yes" so that Shizune could hardly hear it.

"Good then, if you don't have anyone else to visit here...then please go home and get some rest. She shouldn't wake up until tomorrow anyway...stop by then. Okay?"

"Alright...I will."

"Good. Are you going to go home right now?"

Naruto was about to answer when he remembered that there was one more person in the hospital here that he knew.

"Not yet...I have...a friend that I need to visit."

At first, Shizune was about to call him a liar and send him out the door, but she noticed the way his face tensed up as he mentioned the part about a friend, and decided to leave it be.

"Alright then, but make sure to get home at a reasonable hour...its already 8:30 okay?"

"Don't worry! I won't take..."

"...back my words, right? Thought so." Shizune laughed a bit as the boy in front of her started to get a bit aggravated. The mood of the room suddenly brightened as the blonde broke into a smile before walking towards the receptionist's desk.

"You know, you should share your sense of humor with the old hag, a bit of more humor might do her some good."

Shizune's eyes widened a bit at the fact that Naruto was still acting the same old Naruto.

Then they relaxed as she realized that he was still acting the same old Naruto. She quirked a smile before heading out the door, she had business to attend to now.

_(end "Morning")_

Naruto heard the front doors slide open and closed as Shizune left, just as he reached the front desk.

"...Um, can you look up the room number for an Inuzuka Kiba?"

The receptionist didn't even look up, she merely turned to a book on her desk, flipping a few pages before speaking.

"715"

She went back to work without so much as looking up, leaving Naruto in a state of déjà vu.

He stuttered for a moment before intelligent words came form his mouth.

"I-is the elevator working?"

"Should be..."

Just then the phone rang, the bored receptionist turned in her chair, picked up the phone before muttering some formal greetings. She listened a bit the person on the other side before setting the phone back down.

"Actually...its broken now. Sorry."

Naruto let out a nervous laugh as he turned to the stairs, forgetting to thank the woman...even though she didn't care.

He walked in silence towards the door to the stairs. It wasn't until he passed through, reaching the first step, that he felt a familiar, yet not so familiar presence in his mind.

_(cue "Nine Tail Demon Fox")_

[Well, that was amusing]

Naruto purposefully ignored the voice in his head as he started up the steps.

[Just finished skimming through the memories of your blackout kid...]

Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets. The voice was calm, collected, and obviously near the point of laughing.

[...And I gotta say, that was some interesting stuff]

The fox chuckled in the back of his head. A thought floated aimlessly through the boy's mind for a moment, before he could retract it, he heard the voice comment on it.

[Yeah, we are a bit closer than before]

Naruto twitched visibly around his eye for a bit, angry at the entity in his mind and fully bent on ignoring it.

[I think that kid we fought earlier had something to do with it...when he pulled me out...I think the seal got weaker]

Naruto cringed a bit, trying to ignore the fox but wondering why the voice was so much louder than normal...the more he realized it, it was this loud back at the apartment too...

[Yes kid, you can't block me out of your thoughts as much anymore]

Naruto heaved a sigh before turning to see that he was still only half way to floor 7.

'What do you want you damn animal?'

[What's wrong kid...you seem angry]

Kyubi grinned in Naruto's mind.

'If you don't have a reason to bother me, then leave me the hell alone.'

[You nearly got us killed back there you miserable runt]

'That's what you get for playing with my memories, your lucky that Tsunade stepped in.'

[Yes...I think I'll thank her personally when she wakes up...]

Naruto stopped, midway between floors 5 and 6.

'You know something...what is it?'

[What makes you think that runt?]

'What do you know you overgrown fur ball?'

Kyubi sighed a bit as the playful grin eased away from the vision of his face that he sent to Naruto.

[I think that I can actually control this body now that the seal is weakened for short amounts of time...]

Naruto tensed a bit.

[I want out kid...I want out now...]

Kyubi was close to growling as Naruto gulped a bit. He unconsciously stepped back before firmly grounding himself in mind and body.

'No...I will never let you out.'

[Kid...I'm not joking with you...I want out, I mean it]

'Why? I'm not going to let you make another pass at Konoha again, you tried to use me before, I won't let it happen again.'

[Idiot!]

Kyubi's voice boomed through Naruto's skull, causing what promised to be a headache to start forming.

[It's not like those people care about you! I don't understand why you don't slay them all yourself.]

"No!"

Naruto started speaking audibly without noticing it.

"That's not true you damn monster, there are people who care about me here, I just didn't realize it before...I won't let you deceive me again."

[So you think that some lie that some woman fabricated means that people care about you? I didn't see them jumping out to help you back there...]

"Maybe not..."

Naruto's voice dropped in volume.

"...but everyone makes mistakes...all that matters to me is that I know they really care..."

[Ingrate...]

Kyubi's voice quieted a bit, but the fox's fury was still evident.

[You don't understand do you...]

"No, no I don't...nor do I care..."

[That's not what I'm talking about anymore...You don't understand what its like to be trapped in essence form for 13 years kid...you don't understand how much I miss actually _breathing_, feeling air go in and out of my lungs...This damn village doesn't matter to me anymore...I want out because I can't stand to be in here for so long now that I remember how good it feels to be out...]

'I still don't care...'

Naruto went back to thinking towards the fox, and then slowly continued his trek back to floor 7, his mood now dampened.

[And you say _I'm_ a monster...]

'You deserve every bit of this bastard...I don't need to care about you. I only need to hold you until we both die.'

_(end "Nine Tail Demon Fox")_

There was silence in Naruto's mind as he finally reached the door to the rooms on floor 7. He shook off the last of his anger towards Kyubi before walking into the hallway.

He stepped into the hallway, then made a short journey until he found himself near room 715, he was no more than 5 feet away when the door opened and a man stepped out.

_(cue "Nervous")_

Naruto's heart nearly skipped a beat as he recognized the man before him.

..._I have good and bad news Inuzuka-san..._

"Oh...hello, can I help you young man?"

His voice was exactly the same as Naruto remembered it.

He suppressed his shock and put on a wide smile.

"Oh, I was just coming by to see a friend of mine."

"Oh, okay then."

..._Most of the wounds are already healing due to the help of a medic-nin that examined your son. The only serious wound he received was in his stomach..._

The doctor began to walk right by Naruto before the boy managed to speak.

"Um...sir?"

"Yes?"

He pushed up his glasses with his index knuckle, turning his attention to the boy.

..._We have done all we can for it but it is completely ruined..._

"The boy in there...Inuzuka Kiba..."

..._And with our current technology...we can't repair it..._

"Yes...what about him?"

"I-is he alright?"

..._about 90% of the chakra he tries to mold will become wasted..._

"Well, its really early to tell completely..."

"Are you sure?"

..._there is a chance that he'll never be able to become an adequate shinobi..._

"Well, the only thing that seems anything to worry about is his stomach. We don't have any details...but we do know that it was worse than any of the other wounds he received. It may not be too bad...but then again its too early to be certain."

Naruto's eyes fell to the ground as a wave of guilt hit him, Kyubi's smile conjured itself in his mind.

"Ok...thank you sir..."

Naruto just turned around, placing his hands in his pockets as he made his way back to the stairs. He needed to go rest now, badly.

_(end "Nervous")_

===============================================================

_(cue "Loneliness")_

Sakura glanced over at the photo of team 7 that they all had a copy of. She absorbed the image into her mind as she shut her lights off to lay down on the soft pillow at the head of her bed.

"Naruto..."

She rolled over onto her side as the events of the day played in her head a few times over.

"Who would have thought that behind that smile...behind the klutz...behind the obnoxious attitude...was the carrier of the most feared thing mentioned in Konoha for the past 50 years."

She rolled over again, lifting her head as she did so to make sure she didn't tug at her hair.

"How did you go on day to day knowing that you were holding on to such a thing...how did you deal with all the ridicule you didn't deserve?"

Her voice started to muffle as she began to get closer to sleep.

"You...you really didn't deserve everything that you were forced to deal with...I guess that you really aren't all that bad...I suppose you never were."

Memories of the time spent as team 7 started playing in her mind, drawing her closer and closer to unconsciousness.

"Maybe we shouldn't have been so mean...maybe we...I shouldn't have pushed you away like I did..."

She yawned and blinked her eyes heavily.

"I'm sorry Naruto...but I swear that I will be a better friend for you...you deserve at least that..."

With that, the Haruno girl fell into a comfortable sleep on her bed. Sleeping peacefully even after everything she had witnessed throughout the day.

_(end "Loneliness")_

Author: OK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's finally done!!!!! Hoorah, I finally got the first chapter of the sequel done.

Man, this is annoying though, I want the soundtracks for the later seasons...I'm not sure that ALL of the moods I need are in the first two [sob].

Anyway, til next time.

Chaoness.


	2. Chapter 2

Author: Uh...heh heh, yeah...I know, this should have been updated like a week or so ago. I apologize, I hadn't fully recovered from by bout with the case of Shikamitis, and it fused with my senioritis forming one of the most devastating bouts of laziness I've ever experienced Lol.

Wow...I watched the episode with the severe whompage of a young Uchiha from his own brother, and its official, I hate Itachi now. As cool as he is, I like Sasuke much better, and that was such a sad, sad beating. Poor Sasuke, getting owned by his brother...like it was nothing. Poor Naruto, having to watch it happen. Poor Kiba...well...just because he's awesome and I can't forget him...I guess...poor him for what I've done to him in the fic so far lol.

Oh yeah...one more thing.

I, phantomgamer01, officially swear to uphold the following vows:

**I swear to never refer to Sasuke as "the stoic boy" or anything else that uses the word "stoic" for description, unless a better description _cannot_ be found.**

**I swear to never again use the phrase "(color) eyes met (color)" unless it can be otherwise helped.**

I swear upon my honor that I will not do these from here on out in my fic because...well I'm sick of seeing it in every other fic. So for the purpose of originality, I will _not_ do these, if I do, let me know please. I may also add a few more as I go on if they are needed.

**Songs needed for this chapter:  
**"Confrontment", Soundtrack 2, Track 3  
"Sasuke Destiny", Soundtrack 2, Track 17  
"Alone", Soundtrack 2, Track 18  
"Kakashi's Theme", Soundtrack 1, Track 11  
"Princess Fuun's Big Adventure 'Sadness'-'Despair'-Hope'", Movie Soundtrack, Track 5

Chapter 2:

A dull "click" signified the sound of his door shutting, followed by another "click" as he turned the key, effectively locking his small apartment. He slid the keys into his pocket before turning away from the door. With a few sluggish steps, he was out into the sunlight, and all the fatigue of the nearly sleepless night vanished away without a trace.

Uzumaki Naruto's face brightened with the sun's rays, shining against the ear to ear smile that now coated his face. He stretched and yawned loudly before crossing his arms behind the back of his head. With memories of his vision to assure them that he truly had friends, Naruto made his way towards the normal rendez-vous point of team seven.

_(cue "Confrontment")_

As always, he was lost in thought, focusing on everything he could fathom he would need to be prepared for. The morning breeze effectively moved the leafs that surrounded him. No one was around yet, he was sure that Sakura was on her way, slightly early as always. Naruto would be next, arriving just after the morning meeting time. Then Kakashi, both his jounin sensei and tutor would arrive, unbearably late as always.

He audibly grimaced at the thought of spending another day with them on these missions that were more like volunteer work than ninja duties. He had missed the short time when all missions were C rank and above while Konoha was still recovering from the Sound attack due to his "rehab."

He shivered at the thought of meeting Ibiki again.

From there, his thoughts drawled onwards, he cursed the whole situation with the seal and leaving Konoha a few months back, not really because he was sorry he left, not really because he was sorry he received the seal, not even _too_ sorry that he had been brought back. He wasn't sure exactly what it was about the situation that he figured he would've changed, he couldn't honestly say that he didn't want the seal, and he also couldn't honestly say that he would have been happy to live as a permanent traitor to Konoha, even though he was sure that some of the genin still thought him one.

He looked around through the shroud of greenery surrounding him, through the cracks he could see a little. Sakura wasn't here yet.

The village still held a part of him. He hadn't realized it until he came back, he felt amazingly comfortable here, even though he was now plagued with dirty glares from the few who knew of his "episode." Just like he hadn't been able to bring himself to live off of the Uchiha complex, he couldn't truly imagine leaving this place for good when he was thinking straight.

His right hand was pulled up to the crease at the base of his neck where the seal had been.

_(end "Confrontment")_

_(cue "Sasuke Destiny")_

But it shouldn't have mattered to him, he was an avenger. A mortal born with a single purpose, a single plan, a goal. The seal had given him what he had desired, power that was beyond what he ever dreamed he could attain at his age. He had sold his soul to the devil incarnate to get it, but in the end, it was still bested. Not bested by someone of greater skill or age, but by another boy his own age. A dobe that had always failed except when it was needed most, and for the longest time, it angered him.

A shimmer of light off of glistening pink hair, followed by her normal morning ritual of shrilly calling his name alerted him of the presence of the first of his teammates. As always, he ignored it, picking up where his train of thoughts had ended.

He hadn't been able to really talk to Naruto before now. Even the thought of the blonde made his blood curdle, the knowledge that he had so much more potential than himself, it struck multiple nerves in an unrighteous harmony all at once.

Potential.

That thing that everyone said that he had.

That thing that everyone said Naruto didn't have.

Sasuke knew better, looking right into the blood red eyes back in the wilderness had shown him that. Naruto had potential, he had a lot of it. For the longest time, it angered the Uchiha that the blonde did while he didn't.

But after months of sleepless or dreamless nights, full of contemplation on just _how_ the blonde had such potential, all of his answers were brought to him with a simple explanation. He wasn't fighting another boy his age and skill level, he wasn't fighting with the class dobe that he had bested over and over again, he wasn't fighting with a blonde idiot with an obsession for ramen.

He was fighting a demon.

A demon that nearly destroyed Konoha altogether, Uchiha and Hyuga, included.

A demon that defeated Gaara of the Sand.

A demon that could recover a Chidori wound before his very eyes.

And because of that, it was okay to lose to him. He had always known his limits, he had always known who he could and could not defeat. The only person who he refused to allow a difference in skill to intimidate him, was the man he swore to kill. Nothing had changed since the day Itachi had killed his own family.

Impossible was still impossible, unless it was named Itachi.

In this case, it was named Kyubi.

_(end "Sasuke Destiny")_

_(cue "Alone")_

She breathed a quiet sigh as she peered up into the leaves, she could faintly make out his figure buried in the bushes. She knew he wouldn't answer, even before she called to him, but that never changed the fact that she called...she would always call, until he finally answered her, and she would have no idea what to do.

But that didn't matter now, because he had yet to answer.

'Sasuke...'

Her inner self was quiet now, there was an odd tranquility in her mind as she found that it was one of the few times where she didn't need to mask how she felt. She was tired, she wasn't sure why...She had gotten a good night sleep, albeit a dreamless one, and she was used to waking up this early on a daily basis.

She shrugged it off as she looked around a bit anxiously for her other teammate, eager to prove to him that she still valued him as a friend, Kyubi or not. A vision of the odd look he had sent her and the other genin before heading off to his apartment flashed through her mind, it wasn't like him to be like that.

In a sense, it scared her a bit, knowing that Naruto and the Kyubi that she had only heard about in textbooks

were, in a sense, one in the same. Naruto had been gentle and kind all his life, and even though he had been a royal pain, she could never imagine him being purposefully cruel. The thought of him laying a malicious finger on someone who didn't deserve it felt foreign in her mind. It was hard to imagine that the beast that shook the very foundations of Konoha, setting everything around it in a blaze that was reported as "so beautiful, but so deadly." could dwell within a being such as the blonde.

It didn't seem right, it didn't feel right, it didn't _fit_ right.

It didn't even come close.

But then again, Naruto had done what seemed the impossible, defeating Neji in the Chuunin exam third round with a chakra that she didn't think was quite normal. She hadn't paid attention to it before, dismissing it as something she imagined, but the more she thought about it, the more it seemed apparent.

Naruto and Kyubi weren't one and the same.

They _couldn't_ be one and the same.

But, they were definitely closer than many would hope.

She supressed a shudder at the thought of Naruto losing his mind and becoming like the beast that had been classified on the same level as a natural disaster.

'No...Naruto would never do such a thing...'

A slight smile crossed her face, as her deepest feelings rang loudly through her mind.

[Hell No!]

_(end "Alone")_

So close, he was so close, yet hid body felt like it had been drug down by countless weights. The meeting area was only a few more minutes away, but he wasn't sure if he had the energy to make it the rest of the way. He cursed mentally as he broke into a loud yawn.

[I told you, I _can't _control you in your sleep, trying to stay up was a waste of your energy idiot.]

'Shut the hell up'

Naruto's reply was quick and sharp in his own mind, he did not want to be bothered with the fox's musing right now, though he knew he had no choice. Ever since the whole ordeal with Kiba, the fox was never absent from his thoughts, every fantasy, conjuration, or idea was subject to Kyubi's critique now, whether he sent it through actual thoughts, or the boy just _felt_ the answer.

He grumbled a bit, partially out of anger for his own stupidity, partially out of anger for Kyubi who _somehow_ had a major part in the fact that he had tried desperately to avoid sleeping that night.

He pushed out the image of his sleeping body resting on the form of a nine-tailed fox made out of anything much like the only boy who knew his pain.

[You're an idiot kid, even more than I thought before.]

Naruto didn't reply, allowing his sour mood to do it for him. It was_ way_ to early for this now.

[Let me out...]

Once again, Naruto didn't reply, instead, thinking back upon the image of the statue he had seen in the vision. He grinned a bit at the thought of standing with a foot on Kyubi's head.

[Whelp]

'Bastard'

He found himself nearing the meeting area, slightly tardy as usual, but upon reaching the end of the forest, he found himself hesitant to continue.

Sakura was there, standing underneath a tree, looking off into the distance as if lost in thought. There was a gust of wind that blew through the short, pink locks, glistening in the sunlight. He couldn't see her eyes from the angle he was at, but he could imagine their sparkle. Her skin reflected all light, taking none for itself, giving the impression that she was literally radiant.

In the vision, she had defied even Sasuke on his behalf. Everything so far had been along the same lines as the vision, he wondered briefly if this would be any different. Would she care? Would she be happy to see him alive? Or was it that she simply missed him when she didn't have him anymore...

Naruto wondered for a moment in uncharacteristic silence.

...But even if she did only realize that she missed him when he was gone, that meant she truly cared...even if she didn't realize it...

He took a deep breath, forcefully pushing away his fatigue, before stepping into the clearing.

_(cue "Kakashi's Theme")_

"Sakura-chaaaaaaaaaan!"

He whined her name just as he had every other morning. This time, he was met with a smile.

"Good Morning Naruto-kun."

A smile, and a greeting.

His hopes rose high as he ran the rest of the distance, the sleepless night quickly becoming a memory. He even managed to block off Kyubi's obvious impatience at the actions.

From above, Sasuke peered through leaves, trying to convince himself once again that there was no shame in losing to the demon...no matter how much of an idiot he was.

It was only a few moments before Naruto stood next to Sakura under his tree, babbling liberally about this or that, ignoring what had happened the previous day.

Even if he hadn't seen the boy, he knew that he was wearing that same annoying smile. That smile that was far too bright for someone with power to have. It was too innocent, too naïve, too childish to belong to someone with such great potential.

Kakashi didn't smile that wide...

Sarutobi didn't smile that wide...

Itachi didn't smile that wide...

So then why the hell did Naruto do it?

_(end "Kakashi's Theme")_

_(cue "Princess Fuun's Big Adventure 'Sadness'-'Despair'-Hope'")_

His eyes squinted in growing frustration. Try as he might, he could not piece the Naruto he saw now with the Naruto that had drug him back to Konoha. He couldn't fit those bright blue eyes into the mold of the crimson ones that had caused him so much confusion. He couldn't place this idiot in the same category as the warrior that had managed to do what seldom others managed to do.

He had gotten under his skin.

There was a light growl that escaped his throat before he descended upon the too below him. It was a quick motion, trademark to the Uchiha who was deemed a prodigy. There was no audible sound as his sandals touched down, allowing the shrill "Good Morning" from Sakura to pierce the air almost painfully. His attention was focused only on Naruto, who was looking at him with that smile.

It was too bright, it couldn't be right. This wasn't the same Naruto, this wasn't the one he had deemed worthy to lose to...seeing this made his blood temperature rise. This silhouette that _seemed_ like a true rival, but it couldn't be, that was simply impossible.

"Hey Sasuke!"

Loud, loud as always. His voiced wreaked of immaturity, still holding the higher pitch and whining like a child.

..."_Even if I have to break the bones in your arms and legs"..._

Not even the voice was the same.

There was a quick action as his fury reached a peak, a swift fist traveling through the air, too fast to be reacted to. There was a dull thud before Naruto fell back a few feet, before touching down on the ground, skidding a few inches on his back.

Sakura was caught off guard, her mouth began to let out a stream of words that Sasuke ignored.

"What the hell was that for?!"

Naruto's shout was, as always, the first reaction. The words were spoken before he got a chance to see the look in Sasuke's eyes, before he could feel the Uchiha's aura.

Once he did, everything was completely different.

He stood to his feet silently, Sakura rushing over to his side to examine his face, but he pushed her away gently while mumbling something along the lines of "It's okay."

Their gazes met as time stilled, the hateful aura Sasuke emitted was apparent to even Naruto right now. The anger in his eyes was much more intimidating than the Sharingan could ever be. He kept silent while his anger began to rise also.

"Good morning...Kyubi."

There was nothing in his voice, no anger, no coldness, no anything. The words hung dully in the air before dissipating after only a moment. Yet the words stuck with both Naruto and Sakura once the faint echo had died.

Naruto's fists began to crunch at his sides.

[Heh heh, this should be interesting.]

'Closest friend my ass...'

"I am not Kyubi, Sasuke."

The tension continued to rise. Naruto seethed, Sasuke remained passive, and Sakura was just a bit confused as to what to do to fix the situation.

"Really?"

"I have _never_ been Kyubi."

His voice was getting a bit darker, getting quieter, but not quite there yet. He was getting angry, but not enough, his aura was becoming intimidating, but it wasn't the same yet. He had to push harder...

"Could've fooled me."

He topped it off by adding a slight smirk to the comment. The effect was as he hoped, Naruto was getting angrier. So much so, that he didn't trust himself to speak.

"I guess I should consider myself lucky, having the great _demon _who nearly destroyed Konoha as a rival."

The emphasize on the one word that had haunted Naruto since he had found out about his curse, was paired with the usual cockiness that Sasuke possessed. The smirk changed into a smile as he watched the boy get angry before him.

If he lost it now, Sasuke knew he would stand no chance, especially without the cursed seal, but it would drive him crazy if he didn't see it again. He needed to see it again if he could keep his pride.

Sakura put on a nervous smile, feeling suffocated by the immense angry auras on both sides.

"Sasuke-kun, what do you mean? Naruto is Naruto, he has always been."

The words brought Naruto comfort, helping to reel the him back to full control of his rising anger. Sasuke cursed inwardly.

"Stay out of this Sakura!"

His voice left no room to argue, and for a moment, she was tempted to stand back and hope that Kakashi would arrive in a timely manner..._for once_.

..._I'm sorry Naruto...but I swear I'll be a better friend for you...you deserve at least that..._

Sasuke felt the ground he had gained on Naruto that Sakura had taken returning to him with another wave of the angry aura.

"But Sasuke-kun..."

"I said stay out! Naruto is a demon! Its that simple, that's all that he is, that's all he'll ever be."

At this point, even Sasuke felt he had gone too far, but the need to see him angry again and to confirm what was before him, he couldn't stop now.

"How could you say that?!"

..._How could you...after all we've been through together..._

Naruto found himself in a rather awkward feeling of déjà vu.

Sasuke took his glance off Naruto to stare, bored, at the obviously confused girl before him. He let his glare reply for him.

[Well this looks familiar, whelp...]

Naruto's anger was beginning to wane as curiosity began to overtake him.

"If he wasn't a demon before, how can he be one now? Nothing has changed Sasuke!"

..._we've faced our toughest challenges as a team..._

Sasuke didn't even bat an eyebrow at the loss of the title.

"That just means..."

He turned his attention back to Naruto before continuing on again.

"...that he always _was_ a demon. It explains why someone as worthless as him made it as far as he did."

It was getting harder to pretend that he meant every word, but he couldn't stop now.

Naruto was getting angry again, Sasuke secretly hoped that his goal would be reached soon. He focused so much of his attention on Naruto, that he forgot about Sakura completely, and because of that, he was completely unaware of when she drew her hand back.

Kyubi laughed in Naruto's mind as he watched the scene take place. Sakura's hand was flying quickly through the air, her eyes focused in growing anger. Sasuke was blissfully unaware.

That is, until a loud SMACK echoed through the training area and a sharp pain met the side of his face.

As quickly as the initial pain began, it ended, leaving a brief, stinging residue of heat on his face. The worst of it had only dazed him momentarily, his face hadn't really moved much at all. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sakura pull her hand close again, her face was bowed and her pink bangs were casting light shadows over her down-trodden eyes.

Sasuke couldn't find words to say.

Naruto was confused, and bordering on laughing out loud as the angry aura around him dissipated in an instance.

Sakura was silent for only a moment before speaking again.

"I don't understand how you can be so cruel Sasuke..."

Even when she spoke, her voice was so silent it almost couldn't be heard. The silence in her mind was the same as the silence of her surroundings. For a moment, she forgot Naruto was there.

"...all he's ever wanted was for us to acknowledge him, to befriend him. I have seen what he truly is Sasuke, and I know you have too. I've seen it time and time again when he willingly risked his life for either of us. I've seen it, and I can tell you that he is certainly _not_ a demon."

..._All he ever did for you and me, he did it selflessly, all he wanted in return was that we be his friends_...

The similarities were starting to freak Naruto out a bit.

Sakura was beginning to scowl, her voice starting to get sharper and sharper as she spoke.

Sasuke was still a bit awestruck at the sudden change in his teammate. The weak, frail girl he had always known to be a slacker in training and weaker than probably any of the other kunoichi he knew, had suddenly transformed. He found himself at a loss for words, so he merely stared back at her dumbly, through his face was still showing indifference.

Sakura took a deep breath, quelling her growing rage, before continuing again.

"I used to think that there was more to you Sasuke..."

..._I used to think that there was more to you_...

"...I believed with all my heart that there was something in you that was worth loving..."

..._I believed with all my heart that there was something in you that was worth loving..._

"...I always hoped that there was more than just this shell that you surrounded yourself in Sasuke, this shell of hate that you got yourself trapped in..."

..._I always hoped that there was more than just this shell that you surrounded yourself in Sasuke, this shell of hate that you got yourself trapped in..._

"...but it seems I was wrong...I'm done wasting my time on you Sasuke..."

With those last solemn words, Sakura turned her back, purposefully separating herself from the idiot and the blonde.

Sasuke's eyes followed her back for only a little while before turning back to Naruto, suddenly remembering his initial goal.

He saw that it was long passed unachievable by the mocking grin on his face.

Wordlessly, Naruto turned, and practically skipped over to the bridge that Sakura had stopped on, leaving an Uchiha that was feeling a tad bit more than confused at what had just happened.

_(end "Princess Fuun's Big Adventure 'Sadness'-'Despair'-Hope'")_

Author: Alright, I think that's a good place to end off. Hm...yeah. I like this as an end to this chapter lol.

Well, I don't know when I can update again, but I'll try soon. Oh, and my Inuyasha fic is almost completed, so after that, this will be my only continuing fic, so that means the only distractions may be occasional one-shots.

I'm surprised that only a few people have read the Uchiha Massacre one-shot that I wrote, I figured that a bunch of people would want to see that completely written out. Oh well, I had fun writing it, because as much of an evil bastard Itachi is...he is still like the ultimate ninja...so stupid things like boundaries and stuff don't apply lol.


	3. Chapter 3

Author: I would like to apologize for the last chapter (for those of you who listen to the song directions) for the bad choice I made in the end of the last chapter. I was so excited that they finally added another soundtrack that I felt I _had_ to use one from it. I chose so hastily that I didn't listen to the _whole_ song and all the parts that _didn't_ fit. I'll try to be more careful with the following chapters. Cool? Cool.

Lol, I'm amazed at all the people that hate Sasuke that are reading this fic, well...in case you didn't know (I'm probably sure you couldn't tell by this fic) that Sasuke is my second favorite character (falling in a long shot after Naruto, and hardly staying ahead of Kiba) it's funny because I can relate to him more than anyone else in the anime. I can't really say that in his shoes I would've done anything different...but then again, I hate feeling weak and I have an inferiority complex too...if that makes you guys wanna stop reading this...well that sucks. I hope that you don't though...because I have a crap load of fics that are gonna be sequels planned out, and side-story ideas dribbling out the side of my head...and it'll suck if no one is around to read them.

. I don't think I made the Sakura hating Sasuke-ness believable enough...please lemme know what you think!

Sorry guys, I didn't put music on this one for a few reasons. 1) I was feeling guilty about using the same songs over and over again, and there are not enough of them to choose from for enough moods. 2) I'm feeling reaaaaallly lazy, and I have h/w to do. 3) By the time I finished this chapter, I was quite ready to be done with it.

So, if you want songs done for it, lemme know, and I'll re-post this one. But if you don't, I won't and I may not actually put songs on the later chapters either because it takes a bunch of time, and if you guys don't really want it, then it's a waste, ne?

Ok, that was long enough.

Chapter 3:

Most teachers would step into the middle of so great a quarrel as what had just happened between the members of team 7, in order to preserve the unity at the very least. Most teachers would abandon their daily observations from afar when things started to get out of hand. Most teachers would have come and at least _tried_ to make Sakura and Sasuke patch things up.

But then again...Hatake Kakashi has never been much like a normal teacher.

It's amazing how much a temper can cool after 2 hours of waiting for a particularly late sensei. That much Kakashi observed as he walked into the clearing, 2 hours after the fight between Sakura and Sasuke, an hour and a half after Naruto summoned Gamakichi for him and Sakura to talk to, and half an hour after Gamakichi left for breakfast.

Like always, he appeared in a puff of smoke instead of walking out of the forest like he could have.

"Yo!"

His single worded greeting filled the air just after the sound of the initial explosion died down. He turned at one side to see Sasuke shifting his weight from the tree behind him to his feet to stand firmly.

"Hn" He let out a bored response, comfortably falling back into the normal order of the day, ignoring the fact that his cheek was still slightly red.

Before even turning to the others, he began his usual half-ass response.

"Hey, I swear that I got up on time today, but I had to stop to help a bunch of children cross a busy street when-"

"LIAR!"

Sakura and Naruto chorused in unison. Kakashi's eye shifted to show his amusement before turning back to the two students that were eternally fuming about his tardiness.

"Kakashi-sensei! Do we have a mission today?"

Naruto chimed out, effectively putting his anger for the sensei on hold.

Kakashi was about to answer when he was caught by an odd look of anticipation coming from Sakura. He ignored it for the time being before he started his response.

"Yeah, but it doesn't start for another hour, so we're going to do some taijutsu practice for a while until we need to go."

His voice got drearier and drearier as he spoke, but as soon as he was done speaking, Naruto jumped up, effectively breaking the silence with a loud shout.

"All right! Today I'm gonna-"

Kakashi wasted no time in cutting him off.

"Naruto!"

The blonde was silenced as he looked at his teacher, who for a moment, used the serious tone that he and Jiraiya both sparingly and effectively used. As soon as the change in character appeared, it fell away again, and the humorous and lazy copy-ninja was back to normal.

"You and Sasuke will be paired up for the exercise."

He could see the smile on Naruto's face widening, and his mouth opening to shout, so he quickly pressed on.

"No jutsus at all, just normal taijutsu and ninja weapons."

He practically _felt_ Sasuke smirk from off to the side.

"Sasuke, you are forbidden to use the Sharingan for this session."

Just like he felt the smirk, he now felt the puzzled and angry glare.

"You cannot always rely on the Sharingan when in close combat, if you are on a mission that requires extended combat you must conserve your chakra, in those cases, using the Sharingan too hastily could be your downfall."

Naruto's grin turned into a full smile.

"And Naruto, you are not allowed to channel any of the Kyubi's chakra. No one in Konoha is sure what the side effects of using it's chakra could be, so it would be wise if you learned to rely on your own strength. Besides..."

He turned his back from the troop, effectively gaining every spare ounce of their attention. A small gust of wind blew a few loose leaves off the ground in the clearing as every other sound stopped, waiting for the jounin's words.

In a quick motion, he pulled a copy of Icha Icha Violence from his flak jacket and effortlessly flipped to one of the last pages.

"...Your taijutsu really sucks, you need to work on it."

After all the time they had spent with the jounin, for some reason, they all still expected him to say something of value. In all the time, he had said some things that were worth hearing and he had said some things that weren't worth hearing...now was one of the times when Naruto and Sakura's faces drooped in disappointment.

He was about to break out into a loud protest when a familiar voice caught his attention.

"Hmph, dobe..."

Sasuke just turned and casually walked towards a vacant area of the training area to prepare, leaving a fuming Naruto.

"Shut up and go Naruto"

Kakashi sighed as he spoke the words, sending a grumbling Naruto to follow Sasuke and leave the last team member waiting for an assignment.

There was a moment of comfortable silence between the kunoichi and her sensei as Sakura patiently waited for instructions, for once, her mind not pre-occupied with anything, or anyone, but her awaited orders. It was a few more moments of silence before Kakashi merely turned around and put the full focus of his attention into his book, increasing the distance between the two in confident, easy steps.

At first, Sakura was puzzled, continuing to wait patiently for any kind of command, imagining the lazy drawl that he sometimes spoke with while walking away, but as his pace ceased to lessen as the distance increased, she started to get a bit more irritated.

Nevertheless, she waited some more.

He was barely within hearing range when Sakura spoke up.

"Kakashi-sensei."

It didn't have a hint of question in it, the call was merely to remind him that there was one more student to take care of.

"Hm? Yes Sakura?"

Informal as always, but then again, that was the way Kakashi had always been, so it was no surprise.

"You didn't give me any instructions."

Off a short distance away, she could hear the boys stretching.

Kakashi merely shrugged his shoulders at the reminder before he spoke.

"Oh, don't worry about it."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry about it, you don't need the taijutsu practice."

"Wh-wha...Oh...Okay then..."

He shrugged to himself before turning back to his book preparing to leave Sakura to her own musings.

Sakura's look of pure confusion was evident to anyone who would've taken the time to look, but at that time, no one did.

'I don't need the taijutsu practice? _Me_ of all people...'

"...that doesn't make sense..."

The words made the shift from her mind to her mouth before she could realize to stop them. They effectively caught the retreating jounin's attention.

"Hm?"

Sakura was startled out of her slight thought process before realizing Kakashi was talking to her.

"What were you saying?"

"Oh...its just that, well, Naruto-kun and Sasuke are practicing their taijutsu...and even _I_ realize that their miles ahead of me."

"Yeah, and?"

Sakura rose her head that had managed to divert its gaze to the ground to stare, albeit shakily, into her sensei's visible eye.

"Well...then why aren't _I_ practicing too."

"I already told you, you don't need to."

"But why not?"

Kakashi sighed nonchalantly, making the decision to actually _choose_ his words instead of being too blunt.

"The skills that you've shown so far prove that you have a natural talent for the basics..."

Sakura listened silently as if this would be the key to unlocking some hidden potential.

"...that and your incredibly gifted when it comes to book knowledge and studying. On a hunch I would think that you might even pick up strategy pretty quickly if you put your mind to it..."

"Uh-huh"

Kakashi's eyes began to look all around without paying attention to a single thing during the pause.

"...These skills suggest, that maybe...well...you should consider a more specific career than the path your going on now..."

Sakura's face scrunched up a bit in confusion as she tried to make good sense of the words. Kakashi, for a moment, looked extremely uncomfortable under her gaze before finally deciding to be blunt and effective as always.

"Your skills suggest that maybe to look into teaching at the academy or becoming a private tutor for the academy students. It is also possible that they could use your help at the library. Then again, you may end up becoming part of the chief strategy division, I can put in a good word for you if you start early."

Sakura looked a mix of shocked and confused as he finished, trying hard to soak in the sudden information. She ignored Naruto's battle cry as his bout with Sasuke began, trying to keep her breathing steady as she began to feel a bit anxious.

Through lips she found to be suddenly quivering, she managed a few words.

"W-what are you saying...?"

"Sakura...given your rate of growth, you will most likely not make it above the rank of chuunin, so there is no point in training you to do it. Your skills all denote that you should follow chuunin level jobs, and at your current level, you could probably pass the next exam with your current taijutsu skills in the same way that Shikamaru did."

Then, in a way that was only Kakashi's, he turned his back and began to walk towards the edge of the clearing, to wait until the session was over.

Sakura merely stood there, the words hitting her slightly harder than they normally would have. But then again, that can happen when one finally becomes ready to see what they can truly do, only to find out that they can't do anything at all.

So many had been caught up in the mysterious nature of what is called "potential", the word given to describe the final limits of an individual. An entity that could either depress someone beyond all hope, or give one satisfaction beyond all reason.

It was the same entity that gave rise to the curiosity that slew the Uchiha clan.

It was the same entity that gave rise to the jealousy that threatened to tear apart a friendship.

It was the same entity that distinguished Naruto as the former dobe.

It was the same entity that Sakura always believed she had, yet never strove to reach it.

It was the same entity that she had just been told she didn't have.

In a sense, it made some sense to the girl. Her mind reeled through her memory quickly, retrieving information and analyzing carefully.

When she fought with the sound-nins, she had fought her hardest.

When she fought with Ino, she had fought her hardest.

Both times, she felt the strongest she had ever felt in her life, both times she had failed, miserably, to accomplish her goal. Even at her highest peak, it had never been enough...it made sense why Kakashi would say that she had no potential. Because she _had_ none.

She had no potential, she was too weak to even train. The odd thing was though, even though she had entertained the thought more than once...it had never really hit her as hard before.

Her eyes drifted naturally to her teammates when she heard the commotion stop.

Naruto was standing, as was Sasuke, though Naruto looked considerably more dirty. There were no visible wounds on his body, but he was covered in dirt to show that he had landed on the ground more than once. Sasuke on the other hand, looked relatively unharmed, just a lot more winded than the blonde. His face showed a bit of agitation.

What caught her eye though, wasn't Sasuke, who stood firm and looked as if he would triumph eventually, but Naruto, who had come so far. Naruto who no one had believed in.

Naruto, who had fought his hardest against Kakashi and lost.

Naruto, who had done his best against Zabuza and could only manage to free Kakashi at best.

Naruto, who according to all that, had no potential.

But then again, it was Naruto who fought his hardest and beat Kiba. Who fought his hardest and beat Neji. Who fought his hardest and saved _her_ from Gaara.

The boy who was said to have no potential.

The boy who had proved _everyone_ wrong.

Her fists clenched lightly to her sides.

'No one believed that Naruto could ever amount to anything...'

Her eyes clenched shut as she curled her fists a bit tougher. Anger beginning to rise up inside her.

'...but he never gave up, even when no one believed in him...he managed to prove that was strong...'

Her body began to shake as the anger continued to grow.

'...he worked hard all the time...'

"Kakahi-sensei!"

'...just like Lee did...'

"Huh? What now Sakura?"

He groaned a bit, angry because he was just about to sit down, he didn't even turn to face her.

'...I may not have potential...'

There was a slight sound of shifting metal that brought Kakashi to finally turn around.

'...but maybe...just maybe...'

She dropped her hands from behind her head, focusing her gaze on Kakashi from afar.

'...I can still be strong too...'

"I want to train too."

The light shined brightly, reflecting off of the forehead protector that was now in the correct place. Kakashi hid a bit of a surprised smirk at the sudden change in even her eyes, marking the determination hinted with only subtle amounts of uncertainty.

He turned his eyes back to his book before erupting into a pile of smoke to re-appear a few feet from his student.

"Then your opponent will be me."

* * *

'_Damn!'_

The single word ran through Sasuke's mind in constant repetition at the situation before him. It had started off appearing every few moments in the fight, then it escalated into a constant mantra, now it was a searing cacophony threatening to burn a hole in the side of his head.

Naruto just wouldn't stay down.

A silent curse for his teacher interrupted the chant for a moment for placing him in this circumstance. It angered him on so many levels, he knew from the very beginning that he was far better than Naruto in taijutsu, even without his Sharingan, but the problem wasn't that he was taking too much damage from the blonde, he couldn't seem to dish enough damage _to_ the blonde.

Blow after flawless blow had already proved the Uchiha to be the superior in such a competition, but after trying so hard to strike his rival down, like always, Naruto refused to quit. And after even the short time they had been sparring so far, fatigue was starting to wear down his movements, it wouldn't be too long now until the blonde finally managed to pull together an impressive technique, even without his notorious Kage Bunshin.

A large grin broke across Naruto's face as he wiped away a patch of dirt from his face. Sasuke braced himself for a defensive stance, deciding to try and wear out his opponent instead of himself for now.

A slow stream of steady and muffled "thuds" drew his attention to his other comrade, who was now trying incredibly vainly to effectively attack their teacher, who was once again reading one of the books in that disgraceful series. He kept a bit of his attention on Naruto with his peripheral vision, rather relieved for the ban of using chakra which directly translated to "no fancy and flashy pranks" because as odd as it was, he found the spectacle slightly interesting.

He watched the girl in the red dress fumble all kinds of ways in desperate attempts to land blows that would probably be useless anyway. Yet as depressing as it was to see, he was, in the slightest bit, intrude by her futile attempts.

A sharp yell brought enough of his attention back to the absurdly loud ninja he was currently dueling. Offhandedly, he dodged around a blow, in a manner that was sloppier than normal, but still just enough to avoid harm. Another came as a bit more of his focus returned, he took a bit more caution to avoid this one, while at the same time, hardly registering where it came from.

On reflex, he avoided a third attack, his focus gone completely for an unknown reason. His eyes shifted back over to Sakura who was still trying with all her might to be effective, and failing miserably at it, while his body continued to act on pure reflex, outmaneuvering the really poor taijutsu of the boy before him.

Idly he noted that a knuckle grazed his cheek just to enough to alert him that he should be more careful, but he ignored it as he sank into self thought as he watched the kunoichi's vain struggle.

Briefly it struck him as odd that he couldn't tear his eyes away from the spectacle. Sakura had always annoyed him beyond any of the others that had chased after him in the past. But it wasn't simply because of her shrilly voice or her constant devotion to trying to catch his eye, all of the people who "were in love" with him did that. Sakura annoyed him because of something far worse.

Because she, like most the others he had encountered, was weak. But he saw something in her that he didn't see in Ino or any of the others that were calling themselves "fan girls."

He saw potential.

Not really in physical skills, but in intelligence. She had an ability to memorize so quickly and efficiently that it was amazing. She was no where near the level as Shikamaru, but she was probably the closest one in their graduating class to the chuunin's level. Those skills had made it that much easier for her to quickly gain an expertise in the basic skills and some of the trickier ones that involved chakra control or analysis.

Yet with all of that, she did nothing with it.

She annoyed him because she was what he feared he would become...

_Weak_

...and like him, she had the ability to become more...

_Potential_

...yet, she never did anything with it. That was what he could never understand about her, that was what annoyed him so much about her. She elevated herself from just a pain to straight annoying when he truly saw what she _could_ be capable from just being around her.

She seemed to _like_ being weak.

So that was why it was so shocking to see her trying so hard before her sensei, because it seemed for a moment that she finally decided that she was done being left behind. In some ways, it was inspirational, but from what he had heard, she had tried in a similar fashion in the chuunin exams and none of that determination bled through for after.

All he could do was wait and watch, which he found himself oddly comfortable with...

...until a foot came crashing into the side of his face, effectively stopping his musings.

* * *

Her chest felt like it was on fire from the intense attempts she kept making. She briefly registered the sound of a rather loud "thud" and saw Sasuke go flying back out of the corner of her eye, but paid no more attention to it.

She held her place, trying desperately to keep standing as she stared at the man that was the cause of all this frustration. She could not catch his eye because it was so focused on that book.

She seethed inside, trying to calm down and control her breathing.

He was actually _reading_ the book again. Not just glancing at pages he had already read in an attempt to look like he wasn't paying attention, but actually _reading_. She could tell by following his eye along each page, at a speed that showed that he wasn't just skimming over the passages, but taking time to actually _enjoying_ it. It had been a while since he had, that she knew.

She shut her eyes and began to calm herself by beginning with the booming voice of her subconscious screaming at her to"rip his head clean off."

She brought her hands together in a custom seal before slowing moving the chakra of her in rhythm of her forcefully slowed breathing. She forced herself to enjoy the feeling of the energy rippling through each part of her body with the breaths that were beginning to slow on their own.

How glad she was that she developed this simple calming technique.

'Ok...this isn't working...I need a plan'

Her thoughts began to flow in a concise stream once again as the last of her frustration was effectively controlled.

"Are you done already Sakura?"

She ignored the droning tone as she slipped a hand into her secondary weapons pouch, feeling around and getting an idea of what she had with her, a firm count of how many kunai and shuriken she still had was firmly embedded in her mind. As she identified each item, she burrowed deep into her mind for the basic strategies that had been taught at the academy for each tool as a plan began to roughly etch itself in her mind.

She finished her count and let a bit of a smirk grace her lips.

There was an advantage with being weak, it taught you just _how_ to be weak.

Kakashi stood tall, waiting patiently to be attacked once again as he continued to not only read Icha Icha Violence, but to ponder upon it as well.

He hardly registered Sakura make a quick movement and send an object too small to be either a kunai or shuriken towards his feet, and it was only moments later that he found himself surrounded by a thick gray smoke.

The initial force of the smoke bomb exploding didn't even do enough to make him flinch, but as the manufactured cloud blocked his vision from his book, he finally turned his attention to his surroundings yet again.

He dully noted that it was smoke and not gas.

'Hm...this could be interesting...'

A slight whistling sound caught his attention, and out of reflex, he retrieved a kunai. In a swift motion, he blocked off a small projectile that he couldn't quite make out in the smoke, all he knew was that it didn't make the sound of steel against steel.

It was a familiar sound, but he couldn't quite place it. He only pondered it for a moment before blocking another projectile and getting the same sound. This time, he knew exactly what she was throwing.

'Stones eh?'

He put the blade away as another whistling sound could be heard closing the distance.

Bored yet curious at the same time, he caught the stone with his gloved hand before quickly dropping it to catch another, and another, and another.

The dust was beginning to clear as another object was sent through the air, and just as he had with the previous projectiles, he reached out to catch it in his hand.

Only to have it explode a few feet form his face, sending a strong gust right into his face, and fresh smoke to surround him again.

The event caused him to turned his head away on reflex, and once the initial blast faded away, he pulled himself back to a straight stance, coughing once, and sighing audibly.

He almost missed the sound of a foot launching a body into the air a few feet away...almost.

His visible eye widened a bit from reflex as he focused his attention on identifying Sakura's location and plan of attack, he managed to block the side kick aimed at the side of his head leaving a less than desirable amount of time to spare.

He stepped back, his book still in hand but the least of his concerns, as he fixed his gaze to make out the shaded outline of Sakura come to the ground crouching with a low sound of impact. He made out the extension he figured to be her leg, sliding across the ground.

No longer desiring to fight in the thick cloud of smoke, he jumped backwards, launching himself out of it with about plenty of distance to spare. His feet touched the ground below him as he slid the last of the distance. He waited for a moment to see if Sakura would follow, and after a slight moment of stillness, he turned his attention back to his book.

Another few moments passed without so much as a sound as the smoke continued to smolder and thin.

'She's been doing well so far...I wonder why she suddenly got so motivated. That trick with the stones wasn't half bad...if she keeps this up, I may have to put my book away in a few days.'

A louder whistling than before caught his attention, he averted his gaze from his book to make out a single kunai coming towards him from the direction of the smoke cloud. No sooner did he make out another one protruding from the smoke, still in Sakura's hand. He second kunai was rotated slightly before a nearly painful flash of light filled Kakashi's visible eye.

Instinctively, he shut his eye tightly before remembering the first kunai she sent towards him. Remembering it's position and considering it's speed, he blocked the projectile, sending it straight to the ground in front of him.

'Not bad...not too bad at all...'

As soon as the first one hit the ground, a second came out of the smoke, then a third, fourth, and fifth. The last four coming in a constant rhythm, though Kakashi could already see in his mind how to block each and every one of them easily...though he was a bit curious as to what exactly his student was planning.

As the fifth one left the cloud, Sakura came charging after it.

Kakashi turned his attention back to his book, blocking the first kunai and then the second without paying attention.

When he blocked the third kunai, he felt a shiver run down his spine. It was the same feeling he always got when he felt he was about to be ambushed, and just as always, his awareness increased subconsciously.

His ears perked to a low hissing sound right in front of him.

He drew a sharp breath in surprise as he jumped back. Just in time to avoid an explosion a few inches from where he was just standing.

'So that's why she distracted me from the first one...'

The force of the explosion made blocking the last two kunai a bit more difficult, but he managed to block the fourth before stopping, and knocking the last one a bit further away as his feet grounded down.

He turned his gaze upward to see an airborne Sakura, her body arched back to throw another kunai. He stood ready to dodge when she threw it, though paying slight attention to any more possible traps.

In a split second, the kunai was hurled the short distance and Kakshi stepped to the side, awaiting it to pass as Sakura turned her body to punch with her other hand.

The kunai landed with a soft "thud" in the dirt behind him, though it could barely be heard by the loud warcry Sakura let out as she closed the distance. When she punched, her fist collided with his open hand in an easy block, though he didn't close his fingers around her smaller hand.

He turned his attention back to his book, assuming that her latest ploy was over and done with, though making a note to give her a little more credit in the future.

He hid his surprise when she retreated, jumping back only a few feet.

But he didn't mask it when he heard a familiar explosion right behind him and a searing heat behind him. The initial blast dazed him a bit, but not as much as the realization that he was heading head first towards a viscously smirking Sakura, who was already bringing her leg back for a kick that was undoubtedly targeted for the side of his head.

'Uh-oh...'

* * *

Sasuke took his eyes off his battle with Naruto once again as he heard a loud slam. He nearly tripped over his feet while dodging when he saw Sakura's foot still in contact with the side of Kakashi's head.

The surprise faded only a little when Kakashi burst into a small cloud of thin smoke, and a log went flying away from Sakura in his place. It still shocked him that Sakura actually had him in the position to make Kakshi use a jutsu.

He remained silent as always, though he was thoroughly confused.

* * *

Sakura suppressed a low growl as she saw the log soar away. While she wasn't too surprised, she was a bit angry, because that meant the session going on, and she was out of both kunai and explosion notes. She mentally kicked herself for under packing as she eyed the Copy-nin who appeared completely unharmed out a puff of smoke, in the place the explosion originated, his trusty book open as always.

She grimaced and fell into a basic stance, refusing to let her exhaustion seep into her form. Through labored breathing, she racked her mind desperately for a plan, failing to notice that Kakashi wasn't as absorbed in his book as he had been before.

'I can't believe she has just randomly improved this much. But then again, I'm not surprised that the key to getting her to focus was simply getting her to ignore Sasuke...but I didn't think that the difference would be _this_ great.'

His eye peaked up to see her standing, breathing heavily, and looking extraordinarily exhausted. He knew she was out of most her weapons most likely, and her taijutsu hadn't really improved enough for her to land a hit on him. For a moment he thought of just making her stop now, until an interesting idea popped into his head.

He smirked under his mask before shutting his book, and allowing the hand holding it to drop to the side.

"Sakura."

His voice was stern as always when expected to be taken seriously, his eye glinted deviously as he completed his transformation to seriousness. He caught her attention, pulling her out of thought.

"You've done really well so far..."

His free hand moved smoothly up to his forehead protector, stopping over the half that covered his eye. Sakura, completely aware of what was next, felt her body start to go rigid at what she expected him to do.

"Let's see exactly what you can do."

He adjusted the protector, allowing his Sharingan eye to stare right through his pupil.

'Sh-Sharingan...'

She forcefully calmed her breathing as she attempted not to stare straight into the unequal eyes. Every time she had seen him use it before had been in bad situations, it was natural to get uneasy every time he revealed it.

But to looked at by it as a target, was completely horrifying.

Nevertheless, she gulped hard and tore her eyes away triple-slotted red pupil. Shaking her head once, she fell a bit deeper into her stance, trying more fervently to come up with a plan.

Until she felt a familiar surge of chakra and an eruption of surreal blue light. Her eyes widened as the chakra consumed the copy of Icha Icha Violence, making her hope that it was all an illusion.

'Let's see if you've already been _this _far...'

Kakashi stepped forward once, making a deliberately slow process of it, he frowned a bit when Sakura didn't move, just remained frozen and on the verge of having a panic attack.

He stepped forward again, achieving the same result.

Out of the corner of his Sharingan, he noticed that Naruto and Sasuke had stopped and were now staring straight at him and Sakura.

He crouched low once, and sprang forward, planning on closing the remaining distance with a single leap.

"Naruto! Sasuke! Stay out of this."

He nearly barked the command and paid no further heed to the two boys, only to the girl who was still frozen with fear, and coming closer by the second.

What the HELL!?

Sakura's inner feelings manifested, fearful, yet as loud as ever.

'C-C-Chidori!?'

She began to shake as he came closer.

"Sakura-chan!!!!!!!"

She heard Naruto's worried call, but drowned it out as she forced herself to focus.

'Damn it, I've got to think...What do I have left...?'

She quickly fanned through her inventory mentally as she worked out what she could still use. Her hands not budging as only her mind seemed to co-operate.

'J-Just one smoke bomb left and most my shuriken...'

The smoke bomb triggered a rough sketch of the beginnings of a plan that she would _have_ to figure out later...but the problem was she still couldn't move...and Kakashi was getting dangerously close.

Accidentally, her eyes moved up and were caught in the mysticism of the Sharingan...but they seemed different. It may have been the heat of the Chidori affecting her, but she could've sworn something wasn't right with the eye. Normally it was dead serious and ready to kill...this time, it looked almost...

...disappointed...

A brief flash of anger hit her and she found her limbs to be moving again, and without a second to spare, she jumped back and reached into her pouch for her last smoke bomb. She still shook, but she forced it to lessen as much as possible, as she clutched the item.

She threw it down directly in front of her before touching down on the ground. No sooner than her feet hit touched, she stepped, albeit awkwardly, to the side, expecting to see a blade of chakra emerge from the smoke for where she had just stood.

But it never came...instead she felt a soft hand fall onto her shoulder.

"Good Job Sakura-chan."

She froze up for a moment before recognizing the sound of her teacher's once again jovial tone. She turned her head slowly, the adrenaline in her body beginning to fade, to see him standing with an obvious smirk behind his mask, one eye covered by his forehead protector, and a blue book entitled Icha Icha Destiny opened to the first page.

She blinked a few times to help ward away the confusion. Her mouth was open to form a single question, but she didn't manage to get it out.

"The last part was simply a test to see if you would freeze up or not. That's the worst thing you can do if you find yourself up against a devastating technique from an opponent. At first I thought you were going to fail it, but you proved me wrong...in _every_ way. Congratulations."

She allowed a small smirk to grace her lips as her body finally finished winding down.

"Oh and before you ask, Yes I did actually destroy that book, but I have the limited edition one with the author's signature at home so I didn't really need it."

Sakura suppressed a giggle before hearing a loud call from the loudest member of their team.

"Hey Sakura-chan!!!!!"

Naruto waved from on top of the flat back of Uchiha Sasuke, who was now face down in the dirt.

"Good Job!"

She chuckled once before raising her arm to wave back, and summoning up the last of her strength, she yelled back.

"You too Naruto-kun!"

Author:heavy sigh Its finally done. Oh man that was long. I was wondering if it was EVER gonna end. Oh well, you guys know why it took so long though...well I can't say that...I've had half of it done for about a week now lol...but hey, better late than never right?

Ok, so, yeah, don't worry, this will not be a Sakura-centered fic. But in order for me to do what I originally planned on doing, I needed the characters to be a bit different than they are originally, so the only way I could do that and be able to sleep at night, was to show the process that makes them OOC. So, yeah, this whole fic is really just character development for the next fic...but I don't know how many chapters there are gonna be in this one...so I'm sorry. BUT, I will have a plot for this one so that it won't be all boring and stuff...it just isn't my main plot.

If anyone's confused by the "exercise" and what Sakura did exactly, lemme know and I'll post a general outline in the author's note of the next chappie, because I think it as a tad bit confusing...maybe.

Lol, I think I've alluded to like 3 or 4 different possible pairings for this story lol. I wanna know what you guys think it is, I already have it planned and I won't _tell_ you yet...but I'm just curious as to what you all think.

Sorry again about the music thing.

Til next update.

Chaoness


	4. Chapter 4

Author: falls to his knees and presses his face into the dirt. I'm soooo sorry about this excruciatingly long wait. My Inuyasha fic is almost done, and I thought I would finally finish it and get my focus on this alone…But it seems that writing a final chapter is reeaaaaallly really hard and even though I brooded over it again and again, I couldn't manage to write it.

Well, now I'm saying "screw it!" I'll finish it another time…

Thank you to everyone that continued to yell at me to keep writing.

Now for the reviews that I've been neglecting for too long…

**Sand-nin-gurl:** Lol, it seems that you are also a rabid Sasuke hater. I guess I can't blame you, he has done pretty much every messed up thing he can do…except kill his own clan. But, I didn't say he was my fav char, just my second fav. Naruto is my favorite character, which just reminds me of how much I love the anime/manga because never before has the main character been my favorite (and "yes", I have played FFVII) Like I said, I have much in common with Sasuke, or at least with what he would probably be like in a less extreme situation. And the thing about Tsunade…you'll have to wait and see :_smirks_:.

**Princessares:** Thank you for the support, your review was the last kick in the pants I needed to keep this going. For a while, I actually thought of just discontinuing it, but thank you.

**To everyone else that I'm too lazy to name**: Thank you all for all the comments, constructive and applauditive. I appreciated every one of them and I hope that you all continue to read this.

:_Reads back through his last chapter to see where he was_: Oh yeah! So, let's go…:_smiles as Wind happens to come up on his shuffle play Naruto music playlist_: Perfect…

Chapter 4:

"Thank you very much, all of you"

An elderly lady smiled weakly, eyes shut even though everyone knew she was referring to the three genin before her and the jounin she was currently paying. She transferred the small sack into Kakashi's gloved hand, the crinkling of coins rang lightly through the air as it settled on the jounin's palm.

"That's the original agreement, plus a little for all of you for doing such a good job on my yard. It hasn't looked this good in ages."

Kakashi smiled under the mask, his single visible eye arching to show his gratitude.

Naruto, who had been pouting slightly at yet another "useless" mission, immediately gave his attention to the older woman at the generosity.

"Well of course it hasn't! Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage was the one to do it for you."

He cracked a nearly painfully wide looking smile, showing two lines of teeth that were remarkably clean despite his diet. The woman turned to him, eyes still closed and still smiling before warmly responding.

"And I'm glad I did."

Sakura managed a tired grin, still worn out from the pre-mission work-out as she watched Naruto take in the miniscule praise. A little ways next to her, Sasuke stayed silent, his mind amuck with a thousand things, and as always, held them behind a mask of indifference.

"We appreciate the extra generosity ma'am, but it's about time that we head off."

The woman turned back to Kakashi, still smiling.

"Ok then, have a good day all of you."

Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura all responded in their own separate ways while Sasuke stood idly, alert, yet unreactive. When the pleasantries were finally completed, Team 7 all turned and left the small, and very clean yard in unison.

Once they were out of earshot of the house, Naruto was the first to speak up, chuckling deviously before letting out any actual words.

"So how much did she leave extra?"

Sakura grinned lightly at his question, too tired to do much else, but also eager to find out herself.

A nearly inaudible "dobe" was heard from Sasuke that Naruto managed to pick up, effectively sending an angry tremble down his spine before he turned and pointed his finger at the youth, raising his voice.

"Hey you asshole! I kicked your ass earlier, and I'll do it again!"

Sakura's eyes shifted quickly from one boy to the other, a sickly feeling of nervousness welling in the pit of her stomach.

"C'mon guys…you don't need to fight…"

"Hmph…"

Sasuke's reply was cold, emotionless, and aggravating as usual, effectively sending both Sakura's nervousness and Naruto's rage into overdrive.

"About this much…"

Kakashi dropped a couple of coins into Naruto's hand, catching him off guard and silencing his shouts as he quickly figured that he could buy 3 bowls of ramen easily and have some extra change with what was given to him. He likewise walked over to Sakura and Sasuke and dropped the same amount in each of their hands.

"Now, I have to go deliver this and write up the mission report. Bye."

Kakashi started to walk off, the sudden beginning and ending of the last event still having left Sakura a bit off set when combined with her fatigue.

"Oh, and Sakura…"

He withdrew a folded piece of paper and threw it back nonchalantly, managing to keep its path completely perfect until Sakura caught it with a free hand.

"That will give you clearance for some specific Chuunin level scrolls at the library. I want you to take them and look them over, be ready for tomorrow."

He continued to walk, slowly counting down the time he expected to have before Naruto exploded. His count hit "0" just as the information settled in for Naruto.

"Hey! What about me? Where's mine?"

Kakashi sighed, reluctant to turn around.

"Those scrolls are to enhance what I saw in Sakura today, of the three of them, there is only one jutsu scroll and it's only barely a Chuunin level jutsu."

Sakura's excitement began to wane when he said that the jutsu was barely Chuunin level.

"But it's still a jutsuuuuu."

Naruto whined out, turning his face in all kinds of pouting manners.

"Naruto…you've already learned plenty of jutsu that are beyond your level. Pass the next chuunin exams and you'll be able to go get the scroll yourself."

Somehow the words came out lazy as usual, and the normally agitated connotation such words would take registered as bored and tired.

"Like what?"

Naruto was, at this point, whining too much to think back over just how many jutsu he actually knew, and how many of them were not genin level.

"Where to begin…? How bout the Kage Bunshin?"

"Oh…that…well aside from…"

"Then there's the Kuchiyose…"

"Uh…"

"And there is Jiraiya's Rasengan which is in a class of difficulty on its own."

He rounded a corner and disappeared from sight before Naruto could respond, leaving a slightly dumbfounded blonde. It was a few moments of silence that ensued before Naruto got mad at having been ignored, and took off down the street to chase after the jounin.

Sakura took the time to open up the folded paper in her hands, still not quite sure what to make of everything that had just happened. Her eyes fell upon three sets of numbers that she assumed were what he needed to show the librarian for access to the scrolls since her identification stated she was a genin. At the bottom of the page was Kakashi's signature and a slight imprint from his thumb made in violet ink.

'Hmm…I wonder what these could be…obviously they aren't all that great…what can I expect though…'

"Sakura…"

Sasuke's voice blended in with a horribly times breeze, and the sound was missed on her. He waited for a reaction for only a moment before trying again.

"Sakura…"

He spoke a little bit louder, this time managing to get through to her and jerking her out of her short thoughts. She looked up, more out of reaction than of conscious thought, mumbling a "huh" as she turned her attention to the boy.

His gaze was stern and focused as always, nearly scowling in the way that only he would do. His hands in his pockets and his body hunched forward a bit, giving the impression that he had actually let his guard down. She met his eyes with ones that turned a bit puzzled, after all, it wasn't everyday that Sasuke called her name with no apparent reason.

"I just wanted to say…"

He paused, his face getting a bit tense and frustrated at what he was about to say, giving Sakura ample time to brighten up significantly, filling in what she thought to be the rest of the sentence.

'I knew that Sasuke-kun would come to his senses and apologize for earlier.'

Her smile widened at the thought itself; if he apologized, she wouldn't need to be mad at him anymore. The thought made sense to her and she eagerly awaited the rest of his apology.

He shifted a bit uncomfortably and turned his gaze to the ground.

"…good job in the training today…"

He looked up to meet her gaze again, all traces of uncomfortability completely drowned out by his rigid face, dying as quickly as they had appeared. Sakura's face went from beaming to confused to a bit frustrated as his comment sunk in.

"…that's what you wanted to tell me?"

Her eyes both drooped and narrowed at the same time, her head cocking slightly to an angle as the skeptical look complimented her reply.

'…you've got to be kidding me…what about Naruto?'

She waited patiently, though agitated, for any kind of remorse from him concerning their teammate; everything in her moving her to turn and stomp off for is supposed ignorance.

A muffled grunt was his affirmative reply, Sakura shut her eyes and shook her head slightly and slowly.

"Hn"

It was the footsteps behind her and loud curses at the disappearing sensei that made her open her eyes. She passed an agitated scowl to the boy before her, leaving her last remarks before turning around.

"You just don't get it…"

With her back to Sasuke, she missed any reaction, though she didn't care. The scowl melted off her face, revealing a bright smile for the only one who deserved it. She waved him over, watching his face turn from a playful pout to a wide grin as he ran the last few steps.

"Sakura-chan!"

He stopped short of her, idly noticing Sasuke with his unchanging scowl, himself bursting with limitless energy.

"Hey Naruto-kun."

"So…what kind of jutsu do you think Kakashi-sensei wants you to learn?"

Sakura tilted her head back, casually thinking and humming a bit.

"I'm not sure, but I don't think they're gonna be that spectacular."

"You know Sakura…"

He took a moment to peer over to Sasuke and make sure he was listening.

"I can teach you the really cool move that wooped Sasuke's ass when I brought him back."

Sasuke's eye twitched once, but only slightly at the thought of the technique.

"Really?"

Sakura found herself generally interested in what Naruto had to say.

"Yeah. Ero-sennin taught it to me, its really cool."

From there, Naruto proceeded to do an overly dramatic recollection of training with the Rasengan, along with details that made the nearly impossible technique actually sound impossible to learn.

"You see? It won't be easy though."

Sakura smiled, getting the gist of the technique and already knowing that it was far beyond her to learn. She chuckled a bit as Naruto came to a stop, not even breathing hard due to his freaky endurance.

"Yeah, I see, maybe you can teach it to me some other time."

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest in a mock pout and turned his face to the side, having lost the chance to do one of the few things he truly treasured in life: showing off.

"Fine, but we definitely have to do it sometime."

"Alright"

Sakura smiled weakly as she heaved a sigh of fatigue, her whole frame hunching over as she let out the breath.

"So…Sakura-chan, you wanna go get some ramen with me?"

Whether Naruto was actually oblivious to the fact that Sakura looked like she was going to collapse or whether he was just still being friendly despite her exhaustion would be anybody's guess.

"I'd love to Naruto…"

In her mind, Sakura chuckled at the fact that she actually would have accepted his proposal had she not had other things to do today. Part of her felt bad as she watched his face light up bright enough to match his hair for in the short pause she took.

"…but I'm beat, and I was going to go to the library to get these scrolls. But how bout this, tomorrow, after training, you can help me practice what I learn. That sound good?"

Naruto faked another whine and slumped his shoulders and chest.

"But Sakura-chyaaaan…"

Sakura snickered to herself as she drew herself up and walked past Naruto to go finish the rest of her plans, knowing that the blonde's whine was his way of saying "ok"

"Then I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto-kun."

With an honest smile, Sakura rounded the nearest corner and began the long walk towards the library, to find whatever she was meant to find.

As soon as she had left, Naruto turned back to Sasuke, his eyes hardening as he stared at the boy, afterall, he had noticed the Uchiha had not taken his eyes off of Sakura during the whole conversation.

Sasuke's eyes nonchalantly moved to meet Naruto's, and he stared, half-dazed at the younger boy.

"So what was that all about?"

It was Naruto who managed to break the silence first, the seriousness of hi voice forcing it to drop nearly half an octave. He expected for Sasuke to just shrug and leave without uttering a word, needless to say, he was shocked when he heard the Uchiha reply.

"Nothing."

It was clear, it was simple, it was the one word answer to every question one could ask a teenager, and just like every person ever given that answer; Naruto wasn't satisfied.

It was at this point that Naruto wished that he was a more gifted speaker, as he found himself uncharacteristically speechless before the one he still considered his best friend.

The look of agitation on his face cued Sasuke to speak again.

"Don't concern yourself about it."

With that he turned to leave, hands in his pocket, in the way that he was almost famous for walking. He stepped silently, ignoring what he was sure would be an immediate protest from the blonde and purposefully preparing to block him out. He was mildly surprised when he had turned the corner and he had still heard nothing from the blonde, though it didn't deter him in the slightest.

Naruto could only watch in silence as Sasuke turned the corner, having been left alone again. His eyes dropped to the ground as his right hand slowly crept up to his chest where he had stabbed himself in his vision.

'Why…'

He let out a sigh and shut his eyes, his mind trailing back to the first vision he saw under Tsunade's jutsu. His head fell back on a natural reaction as his mind's eye retraced the vision, the reaction between Sakura and Sasuke. He could believe what he had seen from Sakura, even in just this one day. But he still couldn't believe that Sasuke actually cared, and of all the people that he knew, of all the people he cared about, Sasuke was the one that he wished would understand and care the most.

His hand touched the spot on his chest where there had been two scars, one illusionary and one real. As his hand pressed against the thick jacket, he could almost feel the heat of Sasuke's Chidori piercing the skin once again. He could almost see it once again, the anger, the hate, the frustration, the sadness, the rush of emotions that he had seen in his rivals eyes on that day.

'Why of all people…why can't he be like he was in the vision…why can't he care…?'

In the back of his mind, he heard a dull growl before the voice of none other than Kyubi trickled into his conscious thought.

_**Why do you care that he doesn't care?**_

Naruto tightened his grip as he heard the fox inside his head, a grouping of his jacket begin taken into his palm.

"Because you stupid fox…I said to him once that the time I spend with him, makes me wonder what it's like to have a brother…no one is closer to me than he is. He's my best friend, but I wouldn't expect you to understand that…"

The last of his words were muttered even lower than the rest of his phrase, malice dripping off of each syllable as he shut his mind to the beast before it could respond.

'Damn you Sasuke…'

With that, the blonde released his grip on his own jacket and began to breathe deep, after all, he still had someone to visit.

* * *

Kiba's eyes opened slowly, taking in the ridiculously bright room about him, his mind trying to piece together the blur of all that had happened to him in the past while. He kept waking up and falling asleep, that's all he knew.

A couple of nurses had stopped in without saying anything, reminding him that he was in a hospital, but that was about it. The only other person he saw was a seals expert who but attached a paper talisman with some kanji on it to his wrist. He hardly registered the fact that it seemed to stick without adhesive, and registered even less that it was the cause of his reduction in sense of smell.

His head pounded as the glare of the white walls did little to ease the pain, and the fuzziness of his memories made it impossible to figure out why he was here, and why he was alone.

He shut his eyes and breathed out a huge breath before exhaling relaxing again, preparing to fall asleep when he heard a familiar, high-pitched yelp. Before he opened his eyes, a small smile crossed his face.

He blinked his eyes open again, as he heard a door slide open to the side. He let his head fall onto it's side as he saw his mother and sister enter the room, Akamaru sitting eagerly in Kirara's arms, covered in bandages but enthusiastic as ever.

Words were not needed as smiles filled the room. Even Akamaru understood and kept quiet, his tail wagging weakly against Kirara's stomach. In silent steps she crossed the room, before setting the pup down next to her son.

Akamaru merely laid down on the bed, content with just being with his best friend once again, and with a heavy arm, Kiba reached up to scratch his dog's head, ignoring the searing pains shooting up his chest.

Nira, in a likewise manner, crossed the room to her brother's bed, visibly perturbed, though Kiba couldn't notice. When she stopped, she also continued to participate in the silence.

In this way, the Inuzuka family, spent the next few minutes. Emotions and tension each riding high as none knew what to say or whether to say anything at all. Too much had happened in the last day, none of them knew how to address it.

The silence was broken finally from an outside source, unbeknownst to any of the Inuzuka, coming to bring startling and shocking news.

Kirara turned to see a spectacled doctor in a white coat, his brown hair was combed neatly, and he stood completely straight. The glare from of the room casted an odd glow from his glasses that not only hid his eyes, but gave off an uncomfortable aura.

"Inuzuka-san, could I see you outside for a moment?"

Author: I….I….I FINISHED A CHAPTER!

I'm sorry about the long long long wait. I had some issues in life that caused me to re-examine the way I look at things, which meant the way I do fanfiction had to change too. For a while I couldn't write, because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but finally, I managed to come up with my answers. SO I tweaked some of the upcoming stuff a bit and well…you'll see.

Just to let you know though…I'm pretty sure there won't be any romance though…

Anyway, yeah, yell at me and all for the long break, but hey, better late than never right?


	5. Chapter 5

Author: Wow...Okay, I guess I deserved that. I can't help but feel I've been kicked in the balls by about 60 people or so, one for each person who has me on Alert for this fic and didn't read/review. Well...guess I'll just have to earn some new readers, and maybe re-earn the esteem that others have in me.

Also, I could use a Beta...but I'm really picky. If anyone is interested, send me something that you wrote so I can see how well you do. Yeah, it sounds pompous...but there's no reason to send the original draft to someone if they'll catch even less mistakes than me.

**Cobra-100 - **Wow...>.> That's a really good idea...however it is not the direction I was planning on going. Though you should probably write that, since I can see that being a whole fic. Thanks for the review and the idea tho..

**Kaekeo - **_:sighs: _I am not turning my back on Sasuke...some things were just necessary for the direction I've taken him in. He is still my 2nd fav character...don't forget. And no...the doctor is no Shino's dad...else I would have let you know...as important as Shino's dad is...

**Donut-nin** - Let me take this moment to remind you of Naruto's density...even if Hinata told him herself that she was in love with him...he probably wouldn't realize it until after she had left. Don't get me wrong, I think Naruto is uber cool...that's why he's my fav character...but he is still an idiot...period...(or at least in some things lol)...Okay...he's not _that_ dense...but still...Hinata never actually _said_ she loved him...she just said that _somebody_ did. That's the reason he hasn't hunted her down and clung to the attention he would get from her...so yeah.

Chapter 5:

A cold shiver ran down Naruto's spine as he looked around him, his vision showing him nothing other than immediate darkness with glints of dull crimson light in small spots. Curiously, he looked around a bit more, standing completely still andtwistinghis neck from side to side. His eyes narrowed a bit as he began to feel a bit anxious, having no idea where he was, or how he had gotten here.

'What the Hell?'

His thoughts boomed as if played through a loudspeaker, bouncing and reverberating ni the darkness only to hit him with a powerful echo that made him immediately duck and cover his ears. He felt the shockwave hit him as another thought passed through his mind.

'Did I just say that aloud?'

His eyes quenched as the longer thought hit him full force, a physical push from it's strength causing him to twitch in pain as uselessly tried to block it out. He shook his head, forcing his thoughts to still themselves until the echo stopped assaulting him. When he no longer felt the push of the invisible force, he slowly pulled his hands away from his ears, and tried again, this time, forcing his thoughts to be slower and much quieter in his minds ear.

'Ok...'

He heard it aloud again, the echo coming back through the darkness though not nearly as loud. He managed to suffer through it, not needed to cover his ears, but none too pleased at his situation.

'Where am I?'

He looked around again, and upon seeing nothing in the darkness, he attempted to move about the room. His foot only moved a couple inches before hitting a solid object that he didn't notice.

'What the...?'

He looked down at where his foot was pushing against whatever object it was, and was surprised to see that there was nothing at all. He continued to try and step forward, though to no avail, whatever it was, he couldn't sense it, see it, or seem to get through it. After only trying for a moment, he put his foot down and reached out with his hands, and was only mildy surprised when they met the same invisible force at chest level.

He frowned and felt along in front of him, tracing out an invisible wall as if he was pantomiming. He grumbled, half-confused and half-frustrated as his hands felt corners that gave him about 6 inches of free space on each side. He looked around again, his vision passing through the invisible barrier and his anticipation grew.

With an agitated cry, he threw both his arms out to the right, his fists connecting with the force at once but doing no more. He felt no pain, other than the echoing from his shout, but that he ignored. His eyes twitched slightly as the first signs of panic began to overtake him and he turned and swung at the wall to the right.

As with the first, his fists landed harmlessly on the invisible barrier with no more than a dull thud. His breathing quickened slightly as he realized that there was probably no chance he could break through it in his current position. His mind raced with options for only a second before he came upon one that he liked, and with a small smirk he turned his palm upwards at his side.

His hours of practice showed fruit as he began to feel the chakra build up in his palm and he placed his other one above it, ready to begin forming the Rasengan and break out of his confinement. Just as the chakra began to take form however, he heard a voice amidst the darkness, dark enough to chill his bones and distract him long enough to break his concentration.

_"That won't work you know..."_

Naruto looked around again in the darkness, trying to decipher the source of the voice. Even though it spoke only a few words, it filled him with a feeling of dread deep in his stomach. It sounded calm, though it gave off a sense that so much more was being held back. He shudders as he started to get the feeling like a caged animal, and the deep voice from the darkness was a hungry predator.

_"Far more powerful assaults have been repelled by those walls."_

Naruto looked around again as he attempted to steady his nerves. His shaking hand reached for a kunai and retrieved it, though he could hardly keep from dropping it. He gulped once before forcing his fear out of his voice.

"Who are you? And where am I?"

From the darkness there was a sinister and low laugh, halfway between sinister and amused. Naruto continued to look around hesitantly, his shaking kunai being his only lifeline at the moment.

_"Funny how you don't recognize this place...but then again it does look different from that side..."_

The panic began to ebb into confusion as Naruto heard the voice speak and realized something shocking: the voice seemed familiar...

"...Kyuubi?"

There was another loud laugh as the darkness around him began to be illuminated by a dull red aura that just seemed to permeate from the walls. Small puddles of water could be seen and the sound of dripping water could be heard in the distance. Before him, the invisible wall slowly changed to rusty looking bars, and on the center of it, right in front of his stomach, was a small white piece of paper attached to two bars that were right next to each other.

Naruto looked around confused at the room as he began to recognize it, memories flooded him as he realized how many times he had been here before. His confusion began to slowly turn to anger as realization hit him, and the angre only peaked before him when a shadowed silhouette began to appear in the darkness.

Without thinking, he lunged forward, his arm managing to pass through the barrier before him between the bars, though no more. His eyes wide with fury as his fingers stopped just short of the shadow before him. His eyes twitched in anger as the shadow began to take both form and color, starting with a head of blonde hair, passing closed eyes and going down to a tanned face with whiskers, passing a closed mouth and going down to a bright orange jacket and matching pants, ending at the royal blue shinobi sandals.

Naruto stopped for a minute, his eyes wide in shock as he took in the vision of his own self with his head bowed.

_"I'd say in the flesh...but I don't think that'd suit me quite right."_

His image looked up, opening feral red eyes and opening his mouth slightly enough for a sinister smirk to show off a single fanged canine. The whiskers darkened slightly as the image continued to taunt Naruto, goading the last of his confusion back into anger.

"What the hell is this fox?"

_"What does it look like whelp?"_

In his frustration, Naruto threw the kunai he had been holding onto, only for it to pass right through the image and cause a grunt from the young nin. The image merely chuckled deviously and continued to look at his host.

_"This is the mental incarnation of the seal you idiot."_

Naruto grumbled to himself before answering.

"Then why am I in here and your out there?"

_"Doesn't matter."_

The fox's incarnation merely shrugged and turned around, he walked only a few feet then stopped, placing his clawed hands in the jacket pockets.

"Don't you walk away from me you damn fox! Why am I in here?"

It wasn't until he finished that the echo hit him full power, and his body froze up again as the power of the sound wave racked his body. He fell forward onto the bars as his eyes squeezed shut.

_"Be careful not to shout, it's not very good for you."_

Naruto couldn't see his mirror's smirk, but he didn't have to to know it was there.

_"You're there simply because I put you there."_

Naruto shook his head for a moment, trying to clear the constant ringing he was hearing before answering.

"You can't do that though..."

His voice was slightly weakened from the recent blow he had just taken, and it quivered a bit as he tried to speak.

_"I can do a lot of things whelp..."_

Naruto looked up just in time to see the fox's image raise his clawed hand out of his pocket above his head. His thumb and middle finger came to together, and he snapped, letting the sound fill the dim room.

Just as he heard the light sound, he felt the bars that supported him give out, and he fell forward. By reflex he caught himself and stumbled forward a few steps before standing to full stature. All at once his eyes were filled with shining light and he had to shield them with this wrist.

As he slowly tried to blink his eyes into, his nose picked up the scent of fresh water, and in the distance he could hear what he could've sworn was a small stream. He breathed in deeply as his eyes finally became accustomed to the light, and he slowly looked around.

He found himself at the edge of a forest, green trees behind him as far as the eye could see. He stood on the rocky edge of a small brook, periodically glinting with light as the fish breached the surface. The sound of the running water soothed him and he breathed in the fresh scent of the water and trees again, feeling very much at piece and instantly forgetting the everything else that had happened to him.

He leaned his head back and simply enjoyed the feel of the sun on his face, and the cool, misty air in his lungs. He let out a long sigh with a smile on his face when he heard another snap pierce the open air. All at once, the feeling stopped, the warmth on his face vanished, replaced with a chill that seemed to affect his soul more than his body. The air in his lungs just seemed to disappear, and though he tried to breathe, he never felt them fill back up. His eyes shot open to find himself back in the dimly lit room and he looked around again, knowing what he'd find, but quickly growing anxious again.

His lungs still didn't fill with air, though they didn't ache from the lack, it wasn't until now that he realized that he hadn't breathed in the seal before. It also wasn't until then that he realized how cold the room was, how odd it felt. Nothing seemed real other than the barriers before him and the thoughts in his head. The chill, the red aura, none of it, and he began to wonder why he felt it at all.

_"It's not much fun is it?"_

Kyuubi's voice came through the darkness as it had before, but this time, Naruto didn't feel himself filled with rage or fear for his thoughts weren't murderous ones towards the fox any longer, at that moment all he wanted to do was get out of the cage again. Hisgaze fell towards the ground as he started to panic and become anxious again, he wanted to be free, but he knew that he couldn't free himself in by his own strength. His body began to shake from the coldness his soul felt as he realized the only way out of the seal.

"Let...Let me out of here..."

His voice was so low and quiet that he scarcely heard himself, it didn't sound like the demand of a confident young ninja, but the desperate cry of a scared thirteen year old boy. The sound made a smirk form on the image of Kyuubi as he crossed his arms and walked right up to the invisible imprisonment.

_"What was that? I didn't hear you..."_

"I...I said let me out. Get me out of this thing again...I...I hate this place..."

Kyuubi reared his head back and let out a bellowing laugh which seemed to shake the halls. After letting his laughter shake the defeated child, he turned back his gaze to Naruto's form which was now leaning against the bars of the cage, looking exhausted and beaten. He reached past the bars, and with a clawed hand grabbed Naruto's chin and pulled it up to meet his burning gaze. He leaned so that he was right up against the cage, only an inch from the boy, Naruto's fatigue being evident in his half closed eyes and the quikly growing bags under his eyes.

_"No...I will never let you out."_

Naruto looked confused as he stared at the fox, because this time when he spoke, it wasn't Kyuubi's voice he heard come out of the fox's mouth, but his own.

"...I'm not joking with you...I want out, I mean it..."

He stuttered a bit as he spoke, but he felt that he had heard what he was saying before, somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt a sense of déjà vu...

The fox smiled before speaking again.

_"Why? I'm not going to let you make another pass at Konoha again, you tried to use me before, I won't let it happen again."_

Naruto's eyes went wide as he recognized what the fox said...he had said the same thing to him in the hospital just the day before...in his confusion, he shouted at the fox, his strength beginning to return.

"Idiot!"

"It's not like those people care about you! I don't understand why you don't slay them all yourself."

Naruto was taken aback, he had no idea why he had said that, it had just came out...

_"No!"_

_"That's not true you damn monster, there are people who care about me here, I just didn't realize it before...I won't let you deceive me again."_

"So you think that some lie that some woman fabricated means that people care about you? I didn't see them jumping out to help you back there..."

_"Maybe not...but everyone makes mistakes...all that matters to me is that I know they really care..."_

"Ingrate..."

Naruto's voice dropped as he forgot about the fact that he'd already had this conversation. Everything else falling from his mind as his thoughts fell back to the brook and forest he had seen only moments before.

"You don't understand do you..."

_"No, no I don't...nor do I care..."_

If Naruto had seen, he would've seen the fox's smile grow larger as the moment he had waited for was coming up before his eyes.

"That's not what I'm talking about anymore...You don't understand what its like to be trapped in essence form for 13 years kid...you don't understand how much I miss actually _breathing_, feeling air go in and out of my lungs...This damn village doesn't matter to me anymore...I want out because I can't stand to be in here for so long now that I remember how good it feels to be out..."

Naruto heard, and registered that this time, it was not his own voice that spoke...but the fox's that came out his mouth...all at once, he felt overwhelmingly guilty. He had denied the fox the simple luxury of living for so long...and it was true, he himself harbored to anger for the creature at the moment and thought of only running free...he had never believed Kyuubi before...but now he was starting to see that demon or not, even Kyuubi had certain needs.

_'I still don't care...'_

With his plan completeled, Kyuubi's voice rang out of the mouth of his image once again as he looked at the beaten boy again. He could see in the far off look in the kid's eyes that he was thinking it all over, and seeing what he needed to see. He smirked to himself as he dropped his chin and turned to walk away.

"You...you what?"

Naruto's voice was slightly panicked again.

_"I said I still don't care..."_

"How could you say that?"

_"Because...I couldn't get you out of there even if I wanted..."_

"What? But you just...what do you mean?"

The fox's image walked off, disappearing in the shadows, his voice being the only thing left of his presence.

_"I can't help you...if you want out...you have to..._

* * *

"Wake up sir." 

Naruto felt himself get shaken awake, he was suddenly overcome with groggy-ness as he lifted his head off the softness below him.

"What?"

"Visiting hours are over sir, I'll have to ask you to leave."

Naruto sat up and blinked his vision clear, turning and seeing a nurse who was holding a clipboard close to her chest. Brown hair, amber eyes, she seemed a bit normal so Naruto didn't even bother to remember her.

He looked around the white room before looking down at the bed his had had been resting on.

'Oh yeah...I was visiting Oba-san...'

His gaze moved up the comatose form of Tsunade, following the frame of the covers up to the shoulders, to where her head breached the cloth. It still hurt him to see her without the genjutsu, it reminded him of how mortal she really was, seeing the wrinkles morph her face from the mid-twenties illusion she held on to. She seemed almost frail, and it seemed so wrong to see her like that considering the power of her spirit.

Naruto slowly stood up and bowed slightly as he turned to walk past the nurse and out the door, explosions of color filling his peripheal vision from the amount of flowers in the room.

He smiled to himself as he was reminded of how much these people loved her and exited the room. He turned and walked, making his way out of the hospital. It was a short walk, since she had a room that was really close to the door, and within moments he found himself outside in the cold night air. He breathed in once as his thoughts fell back to the dream he had.

_Have you changed your mind whelp?_

As if on cue, the fox's voice could be heard in his mind. He sighed, expecting this to happen, and looked down as he took the time to think about it.

_You know how it feels now...what is there to think about? You yourself said it, you had no other intentions that being free, that's how I feel too._

Naruto shifted uncomfortably as he began to walk, his mind still turning things over as he began the walk home.

_What is the matter with you? Let me out of here, I demand it!_

Naruto stopped, losing track of where he was and bringing his focus back to the task at hand as he reached a decision.

'No...'

_What!_

The fox's voice boomed in his head, but Naruto didn't shudder, if anything, it made his reply even more fiercesome.

'No...I'm not letting you out.'

There was no scream this time from the fox, though Naruto could feel his brooding anger, and it almost seemed as if his own body shook with the demon's rage.

_You disgusting, ungrateful, snivelling excuse for a sack of dog shit._

Naruto remained steady through the fox's drawl.

_How can you say something like that? You only experienced a sliver of how I feel, when I showed that to you, I was merciful, I can't even move, I can hardly think. You were there for only a few minutes, I have been here for THIRTEEN YEARS!_

Naruto visibly winced as the fox shouted the last of it, though it's murderous intent did not faze him.

Kyuubi was silent for a moment, still brooding, his anger being held back. When he spoke, it was closer to a growl.

_Why then? Why will you deny me of freedom, when you know that's all I care about? This whole village can go to hell for all I care..._

'Because you can't be trusted ouyside.

_What do you..._

'Last time you got out, you put one of my friends in the hospital, you saw the vision right? You ruined his future as a ninja, he can never reach his potential because you snuffed it out. I will not let you out, because I refuse to let anyone else suffer for your ucontrollable rage.'

There was silence in Naruto's head for a long time before the fox spoke again.

_Fine...if that's the way you want it. Fuck you kid. Forget every favor I ever planned to do for you, I'll let us both die before I help you again. Trust me, it would be better than being stuck in here._

With that, Naruto no longer felt the fox's presence in his mind. It was quiet in his mind again, and Naruto breathed out a sigh as he continued walking down the path to his house, whispering his final words to the fox audibly.

'Fine then...I don't need you anyway...'

* * *

Sakura blinked again, trying to get her eyes to focus better. It was late, she knew that, but she didn't know _how_ late. She looked over to her right to see her electric clock. 

'11:00pm? That means...I've been at this for...'

Her mind went dull as she tried the simple calculation, and she failed miserably.

She reached up and rubbed her face with her hand, blinking some more. She looked down at the scroll beneath her, sitting on the small wooden desk, shaking her head.

She rolled the parchment back up, and re-sealed it, setting it off to the right. Her gaze fell to the one scroll she had left: the jutsu scroll. She shook her head again as she looked off to the right, at the two scrolls she had already finished looking over and learning.

'It's too late to look at this last one now...'

She pulled up her bag and scooped the three scrolls and the her project for the night into it, being careful not to damage it.

She stood up with a heavy yawn and walked over to her electric clock and set the alarm.

'4:30...that'll give me plenty of time to get ready tomorrow before practice, and look over the jutsu...I probably won't be able to learn it...but at least it'll be better than nothing. I'm sure that Kakashi was more interested in me learning from the others, considering what they were...'

She yawned again and walked across her room to her bed and began to change, her thoughts still on the scrolls as she tried to review them in her mind. Effortlessly, she changed into her pink pajamas, feeling the soft fabric against her skin. She turned off the light and pulled the covers back before slipping into the covers.

In her mind she began reviewing again, though the strain of the day finally caught up with her, and before she could even get passed the basics of the first scroll, she swiftly fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

_-Beep Beep!-_

Sakura groaned as she rolled to the side, awoken by the sound of her alarm and feeling no where near ready to get up. Peering through thedarkness she looked at the flashing time.

'...4:30...'

She groaned and pulled the covers back, rolling her legs off the bed and onto the warm carpet. She blinked repeatedly and yawned, stretching as she walked across her room towards the alarm.

'...I'm not ready to get up yet...if I set it back another 45 minutes, I'll have time to get shower and do my hair or look over that scroll...'

Her body still ached and with every step she was reminded of the tough workout she had had the day before.

'...But there's no way I can do both this morning.'

She turned off the alarm in half-awake haziness and set it for 5:15, then after a moment of thought, set it for 5:20. She caught herself before switching it to 5:25, knowing she had already compromised enough.

With another yawn, she turned around, heading for her bed and another 45 minutes of sleep, and with a passing glance, she saw her bag full of things. A bit of a smile worked its way across her tired face as she made her way to bed.

'I can't wait to show Naruto and Kakashi-sensei what I learned.'

She slipped back into the covers, still wondering whether she would take the 40 minutes to get ready...or use it to look over the scroll...whatever she would do, that issue would be worked out 5:20.

* * *

The wind whipped through the tree, the cold morning breeze causing the leaves to shake in the darkness. Sasuke sat alone amongst the branches, shivering slightly, seeming almost invisible among the darkness. He sighed, his back against the tree while his legs sat comfortably on a branch. 

He shut his eyes and pushed out a shiver as he delved into his mind yet again, trying to figure out why exactly he was here at the meeting sight and hour and a half early instead of at the manor training. It was the same as last night, something was hindering his concentration and he couldn't figure out what it was.

It was odd, feeling fully rested again, he hadn't really taken a break from training since he had gotten out of the hospital, so without that, there wasn't anything for him to do but rest. At first he had thought that he was simply fatigued and that a good rest would bring back his ability to focus, but when his internal clock had woken him at 3:00 for his normal pre-meeting workout, he still couldn't focus.

He had stood in the section of the manor that was specified for training for nearly an hour, not doing anything but shivering in the cold, and he couldn't figure out why.

Sitting here now made him angry, knowing that he should be training and practicing so that he could kill Itachi...but whatever it was that was keeping him from focusing, kept him from getting too angry to sit there. No matter how much he thought about it, worked it, molded it, manipulated it, he could not get his ambition or anger to overpower his lack of will to practice.

So he was here, at the meeting site, and hour and a half early.

A shiver ran down his spine as another, stonger breeze shook the tree.

* * *

It was about 6:05 when Naruto came rushing into the training site, a blur of orange and gold, followed by a large trail of airborne dust. He skidded to a stop, kicking up even more dust before he attempted to catch his breath. His loud, heavy breathing showed that he had run the whole way, which didn't surprise Sasuke, who was still sitting in the tree. 

"Morning Sakura...-chan..."

Naruto noticed mid-sentence that the kunoichi wasn't there, which was odd enough. He turned up towards the tree where he could faintly see Sasuke amongst the leaves, he sent him a bit of a sour expression before addressing him.

"Sasuke! Have you seen Sakura yet?"

Even while he spoke, he listened out, expecting her to jump out of a bush or something to try and surprise him. His answer was the infamous Sasuke "Hn" even though it was accompanied by the Uchiha actually jumping out of the tree and landing nearly soundlessly on the ground.

Naruto merely watched him, crossing his hands over his chest as he waited for the boy to answer him, his sour expression still turned to the young prodigy.

"Well?"

Sasuke rose from his crouching position just to cross his arms as well and lean against the base of the tree.

"No _dobe_ I haven't."

Surprisingly enough, the name still managed to stir up Naruto's anger, though he didn't quite burst, feeling that now wasn't quite the time and settled for muttering curses to the Sharingan carrier.

It was about the time that Sakura walked into the clearing, passing the line of trees, her eyes intently focused on a scroll she was holding open, and she looked a bit frantic. Naruto raised an eyebrow as he saw her rushed walking and moved to stand in her path, waiting for her to notice him. When she was no more than three feet away, he finally gave up and greeted her first.

"Morning Sakura-chan!"

Sakura jumped back in surprise, her eyes wide as she noticed Naruto for the first time. He was smiling and bright as usual, despite the fact that he had only been up for about fifteen minutes. Sakura waited a moment for her heart to calm down, placing one end of the scroll in the opposite hand so that her left hand held the scroll alone. As soon as she was moderately calmed down, she belted Naruto in the face, sending the young nin rocketing throught the clearing.

"What was that for? Jumping out at me, I should..."

In a single bound, she crossed the long area between her and the still dazed nin, murder in her eyes, instilling fear in Naruto's.

Sasuke could only rub his forehead as he tried to block out the sounds of Naruto letting himself get a massive beating from the young girl, swearing up and down that it would never happen to him.

After a good minute or so, Sakura dusted herself off, and clapped the dust off her hands.

"I hope you learned your lesson."

She kept walking, coming closer to the tree Sasuke was at, leaving behind Naruto who looked as if he had been mauled by a wild animal, mumbling incoherently to himself. She sighed and let out a deep breath and sat down, only a few feet from Sasuke and resumed her reading of the scroll that somehow remained undamaged.

Sasuke didn't even bother to try and get a glimpse of it, knowing that if it was a useful jutsu, he could always get it with his Sharingan. He turned his head to see Naruto nursing a faulty wound, already looking as if the beating never happened at all. The young nin walked with a limp that Sasuke could tell was fake and he watched Naruto go towards Sakura, dragging his feet along the ground to give her full warning that he was coming.

"...baka..."

He whispered it to himself so low that no one heard him, but it didn't matter.

"Um...good...morning, Sakura-chan?"

Naruto posed the question somewhat seeming like a kid testing out the pool when it was getting dangerously close to winter. Sakura turned slightly so that she could see him, with a smile on her face.

"Good Morning Naruto-kun."

She turned back to the scroll, leaving Naruto feeling strangely forgiven, and he stopped the wounded act. He took a few more steps and leaned in, trying to get a glimpse of the scroll over her shoulder. When he had seen it for no more than a moment, Sakura quickly rolled it up and let out a long breath. She smiled to herself and got to her feet, nearly hitting Naruto in the head with her own on the way up.

"Glad that that's done."

Naruto donned a pouting expression when she got up and stretched, waiting for her to notice. He stood there, holding the expression for a while before she finally turned around.

"Naruto?"

He simply continued to have the pouting look, his arms crossed slightly over his chest, his head turned to the side and looking up into the sky. Just as Sakura opened her mouth to say something, he spoke up, whining.

"Sakura-chaaaaaan...I wanna see the scroll...that's the jutsu one isn't it?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow before quickly switching to defense to block the reaching hand Naruto sent her way. She turned her body slightly to the side and held out an arm to hold Naruto back, while the othre arm held the scroll as far away from him as possible.

"Naruto! Stop it."

"But Sakura..."

He continued to reach, his body pressed against hers while his hand reached around. She managed to pocket the scroll, laughing at the little game of keep away that had started.

It was all fun and games until Naruto's hand accidently reached around too far and landed straight on Sakura's teenage bosom.

The two froze instantly, hardly doing anymore than simply breathing. The shock held Naruto's hand in place before he finally got a grip on himself and he jumped back, waving his hands defensively before his face. Sakura still stood there, motionless, her eyes blank and wide, staring off behind him.

"S-Sakura-chan...I-I didn't m-mean it heh heh...funny how weird things...turned out ya know? Heh heh...I mean, I didn't _want_ to touch your..."

Sakura's head slowly turned to Naruto, tensed and shaking. It seemed almost if she were pulling against it and it was stuck.

"...I mean...they-they're nice and all...but, you know...I didn't mean to..."

His laughter got more and more nervous as he felt a large well of chakra pour out of Sakura. He backed up slowly...still waving his hands around and apologizing profusely until it seemed like he was doing no more than stuttering.

"Na...ru...to..."

Naruto's eyes went wide as he turned and bolted, water gathering at the sides of his eyes. He had only gotten a few steps when he felt a sharp tug from behind, on the neck of his jacket. A feeling of dread washed over him. He turned in the grip to see a pupiless Sakura, staring straight through him, and it seemed as though there was fire behind her. He tried once again to plead before her, though it was far from coherent.

His eyes went wide and his pleading went into overdrive when he felt a large concentration of chakra gathered on her open right palm.

"Sakura-chan...please it was an acc..."

* * *

Kakashi heard a large smack ring through the air. The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed over the monument where he visited daily. He recognized it as the odd sound resulting only from a woman's hand hitting a man's face, a sound that he recognized surprisingly well. 

He turned his gaze idly into the air, many thoughts crossed his mind as he wondered where the sound had come from.

'Jiraiya-sensei must be at his research again...'

Even his thoughts had a lazy drawl to them.

'...but that means his next book should be out soon.'

A sinister smile crept across his face, hidden by his mask as he turned back to the mural to recommence his morning ritual.

* * *

Naruto sat on the railings to the bridge, looking into the water. Sakura stood a few feet away, looking into the same river. Sasuke still sat against the base of the same tree. All three of them were in their own thoughts, caught in an odd moment in which all speech had ceased. 

All at once, something caught their attentionand each turnedgaze attention to the edge of the bridge. Only a moment afterwards, a small cloud of smoke exploded from no where, signaling the arrival than none other than Hatake Kakashi, book in hand.

"YOU'RE LATE!"

Naruto was the first to explode, screaming and pointing (yet again) at the careless jounin, who merely shrugged as if he hadn't heard anything. Sakura sighed to herself, chuckling slightly at the antics that never got old.

Kakashi pocketed the book and idly turned his visible eye on the area, all the while ignoring Naruto. After a few minutes of waiting, it became apparent that Naruto was not going to drop the subject and seemed to be putting all his energy into his screaming.

"Sakura."

It was firm, it was short, and it caught the kunoichi's attention.

"Yes?"

He turned so that he was facing her, that lazy look in his eye and stance, both of his hands in his pockets while he slouched.

"Did you look over those scrolls?"

She pushed off the railing and walked over to him, her hand going to her pouch and fumbling around for something.

"Yeah, I did, but I didn't get a chance to practice the jutsu."

"And the other ones?"

"Well, the style seemed really interesting. I never considered specializing in bombs and grenades, but it seemed like something I could get into. And the schematics for the smoke bomb weren't too far advanced, it took a while, but I managed to make one."

She withdrew from the pouch a small grey ball, not perfectly spherical, but one could tell what it was supposed to be.

Naruto's eyes grew wide as he saw it from his spot on the bridge and he finally shut up, not so much from shock as from utter confusion. Before he could manage to begin stuttering out the beginnings of an inquiery, Kakashi began to speak, this time, loud enough for all of them to hear.

"We have a mission today, D-ranked. We are to clean the Konoha Animal Park. Like yesterday, our mission does not start until later, this one starts at noon...which means..."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all got a sudden determined expression on their face as they anticipated their sensei's next words. Kakashi's reaction was merely walking away from them, heading towards the line of trees that marked the edge of the clearing.

"Training time..."

The members of Team 7 all exchanged looks to each other, none of them really trying to communicate anything except their general readiness. To his credit, even Sasuke pushed himself off the tree he leaned against, his expression turned to concentration as he too listened for instructions.

"One of you has already been given a bell. This exercise is kind of like the first one we did, except completely different. You are to split up as soon as I give the signal, and in ten minutes you are all on your own. At 11 o'clock, the exercise ends, and the person with the bell is excused from today's mission."

The glances from each member to another grew steadily more untrustworthy, and though there was good distance between each member, none of them moved for fear that the bell would sound on one of them and give itself away too soon. At first, each member looked to the other two, sizing up the competition and ironing out initial plans, but it wasn't long before both Naruto and Sasuke forgot altogether that Sakura was even a part of the exercise.

"By the way, there are no limitations to what you can use. Just remember that this is a training mission, but it's also a bit of fun, so don't try and kill each other."

Kakashi retrieved his prized novel from the pocket of his vest, effortlessly flipping open to his current page as he entered the beginning of the foliage, his last word hanging in the air.

"Begin!"

With that, all three ninja disappeared from sight.

* * *

Naruto growled to himself as he landed silently on a rather large branch, slightly higher up than most normally travel. A Kage Bunshin was already standing on a similar branch five feet lower and two trees back. He searched his ninja pack for the third time, coming up bell-less.

"Oh well..."

He reached up and readjusted his forehead protector, a smile on his face.

"Sasuke's probably got it."

* * *

He had known from the beginning that he didn't have the bell, not because he saw Kakshi plant it, not because he didn't feel it get placed on him, not even because of the silence he heard when he moved from branch to branch. He knew it because it would make no sense for him to have it; Naruto had surpassed him (as much as he hated to admit it) which meant he needed the training the most.

It was with this mindset that Uchiha Sasuke traveled through the foliage, Sharingan activated with three commas, looking for none other than Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

Sakura landed, slightly winded at the base of a tree, surrounded by bushes on all sides. Kakashi's ruling about what culd be used and what couldn't irked her to a great extent. It meant to her that she could be facing Naruto's Kyuubi chakra and/or Sasuke's Sharingan; either was a challenge that she was in no way ready to face.

Disappointed, she resolved to simply stay out of this and wait for the exercise to end, there was no sense in getting far too wounded now. She didn't like the idea, fearing that she would sink back into her previous state of prepetual weakness, but she knew that she couldn't match them even with the previous day's limitation had they fought back.

She sighed dejectedly and leaned back against a tree, she allowed herself to fall backwards a bit, letting a light "thud" emit from her back hitting the bark.

A shiver of fear ran through her spine when she heard a faint ringing for a moment before it hushed itself. Her lips began to quiver as she sent a hand into her weapons pouch, which she only now noticed was heavier than before. She felt something foreign in it that she quickly pulled out, it was solid in her hand.

She looked down to see a small box with a removable, plastic top. In it, she saw about 15 smal spheres of differing colors and sizes. She was about to open it when she felt something roundish on the bottom, and she quickly turned the box over, only to be hit with another wave of spinal chill.

There, stuck to the bottom by a piece of tape, was a silver bell.

As if things couldn't get worse, a quick flash lighted the sky above her. She looked up just in time to see the light fade out. She knew in her mind what she refused to accept...

* * *

When Naruto looked up and saw the flash, glee filled his eyes at the thought of meeting Sasuke again in battle...

When Sasuke looked up, his eyes filled with the determination to prove his own worth and test his capabilites against his rival...

When Sakura looked up, fear grasped hold of her, knowing that she would inevidably meet Naruto or Sasuke, if not both...

As Kakashi gathered the last remains of the flare launcher, he smiled to himself, feeling ridiculously devious for coming up with this game.

I feel that it's only fair to warn you now. On June 2nd, 2005, my family and I will be boarding a plane to California, from which we will fly out to the Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa. In order to make sure that some of our stuff is there when we get there, it's being shipped off on Wednesday 20th of April and Thursday the 21st. Among these things...will be my computer. I might be able to update from public comps and at friend's houses since I've started writing my whole chapters in the Edit Chapter screen, but there's no guarantee.

So I apologize, but it may be a while before another update.

On a lighter note...I should apologize as well...everything up to Kakshi's appearance I have had written for a few weeks now lol. Oh well...past is past right?

Hope you enjoyed it, I enjoyed writing it. Maybe there will be a chapter coming up sooner if I am motivated enough to stop everything and write (which has happened before)

Um...there isn't really much to respond to, since I only got 3 reviews for the last chapter, but I also got like 6 more people to add me to author alert, so I'm not upset.


	7. Chapter 7

Hey people, I'm alive. Sorry it took so long to update, but moving is a bitch. I'm now updating from Okinawa, Japan on a 16-hour time difference from my home in the deserts of Arizona. Bear with me, hopefully the next chapter won't take so long since I'm eager to get it out of the way.

Another thing, I'm sorry about the fic slowing down a bit but I'm trying to work the characters so that what happens later will make sense so that I can avoid the dreaded OOC flames. Um, this chapter and the next one are still gonna be in a pseudo-Sakura center ness since she is the character that I figured I'd start working with now. HOWEVER, the chapters after that is when I start fucking with Kiba, and I have some fun stuff planned for him since it'll bring the fic back to a drama feel instead of a action/adventure one (since I'm terrible at fight scenes).

That being said, here goes...

Chapter 7: 

Sakura threw her head back, shutting her eyes and took the time to just breathe. Her hands were shaking as the situation finally seemed to hit her: She knew that Sasuke and Naruto would leave her alone until they realized she had the bell, but at that point she'd have to figure out what to do when they found her. She had honestly thought about just giving the bell to the first person that found her, it seemed like the smart thing to do, since it would mean she wouldn't have to walk into a losing battle, considering neither Sasuke nor Naruto had any real limits. The only thing that had her thinking, trying to figure out a plan, was the small box of bombs that Kakashi had snuck into her pack. 

At first she hadn't realized what they were, but she slowly remembered the details off of the technique scroll for them. Each bomb was colored a different color to help the user differentiate from them since they were all virtually the same size and shape. The problem lay in the fact that she didn't think she'd have to worry about anything other than the smoke bomb for now, so she didn't bother to memorize the color system. Only a few stuck out in her mind, 3 of the 8 colors to be specific. 

She reached into her pack, fingering the smoke, flash, and paralysis bombs, among the rest of the unknown spheres. She continued to try and focus, channeling chakra through her body and enjoying it's massaging feel, though it did little to relieve the stress. 

She gritted her teeth, staying stationary wouldn't help anything. Even if she couldn't fight either of them, she could at least keep moving. With any luck, they would keep distracting each other, and she might actually make it through the exercise looking forward to a non-crap cleaning day. 

She still wasn't sure what she'd do if they managed to find her, but she'd cross that bridge when she came to it. 

With shaky resolve, and adingling from the bell, she leapt onto a branch from the nearest tree and took off to the west.

* * *

There was a certain beauty in jumping from branch to branch, traveling at such a speed from 15 feet in the air. Even Naruto knew that, even if he didn't show it. Right now, as he traveled, looking around for Sasuke, part of his mind was on the pattern of the the sun rays breaking through the canopy, leaving the leaf print shadows on the ground and trunks. 

Living in Konoha all his life didn't diminish his love for the trees, for they were always different, always changing. The youngest ones as signs of new life, the eldest ones being an example of the sheer beauty and ancientness of the earth itself. Though this wasn't exactly the way _he_ saw the trees, he felt somewhat similar. 

He did pity those who lived in the desert though, sand and more sand as far as the eye could see, it would drive him crazy. 

'Hm...I wonder if that's why Gaara is so...' 

His concentration was broken by the whizzing of a kunai through the air. By pure reaction he shifted his head to the right, just far enough for the blade to sail past him without touching him. Instantly he was alert, the electricity of motion and action driving him. 

He heard more coming, and he planned his counter as he landed on the next branch in his path. Hardly landing on it, he turned and jumped backwards, in the midst of his spin, he withdrew a handful of shuriken preparing to throw themin the direction of the ones he could hear. His sight caught hold of a few just beforehe threw his, and he aimed in a split second. With practiced ease, he launched his own projectiles, effectively colliding with, and stopping the kunai directed at him. The single extra shuriken sailed on in the direction he suspected his attacker came from. 

The sound of clanking metal was followed by silence, as Naruto's feet touched the branch he had jumped towards. When he first felt solid matter beneath him, he jumped back, throwing his weight into a backflip, his destination being the ground. 

Amidst the flip, his eyes scanned the area around him, looking for traces of black cloth or pale skin against the foliage, but he found none. What he found in instead, was a kunai emerging from a thick collection of leaves, though the target was the ground below him. 

At first, Naruto dimissed it as poor aim for whatever reason, then he realized that a) Sasuke never had poor aim b) The kunai would hit the exact spot he'd land in, just a few seconds before him, and c) there was a white slip of paper attached to the blade by a string, with writing he couldn't decipher from it's speed. 

His eyes didn't go wide in surprise, though he did groan in frustration as he realized the trap he had just been caught in. 

"Awww...sh-" 

The sound of a loud explosion muffled the sound of his curse. 

Following the deafening blast, was dead silence, and as the smoke cleared, there was nothing, though Sasuke was far from surprised, and he didn't budge, unwilling to give up his location. 

It was for only a short time the silence lasted, just long enough for the smoke to clear to reveal an untouched Naruto, save some dirt on his clothes and a sour expression on his face. 

"Hey! What's the big deal? Kakashi said _not_ to try and kill each other remember?" 

His answer was swift, silent, and very sudden as Sasuke fell from above, descending upon Naruto without a sound. He held onto a kunai in his right hand, as as soon as the distance between them was reduced to mere inches, he pushed the blade into the side of Naruto's neck. He landed as silently as he fell, his other arm hanging limply to the side. 

He withdrew the blade just as the kage bunshin before him was dispelled in a puff of smoke. He let out a long sigh as he lazily turned his gaze to the foliage to his right, his eyes bleeding over from black to the crimson of Sharingan, three commas dotting the black ring. 

"If that would have been enough to kill you, fighting you wouldn't have been worth it, _dobe_" 

Naruto calmly dropped from the tree he was hiding in, laughing to himself a little bit. He had managed to disregard the last piece of the comment as he landed amongst the scattered leaves on the ground. 

"But still, I might have not been paying attention, and then that would have really hurt." 

"Hn" 

Sasuke's trademark reply was followed shortly by a few kunai being hurled at Naruto so fast that he hardly saw Sasuke's hand move, and with the few yards between them being the only distance, it was hard to avoid them. He didn't bother to count them, prefering to duck to the side, though the both of them knew that theprojectiles were merely a distraction, so when Sasuke charged forward, Naruto was ready. 

Sasuke closed the distance between them quickly and led off with a forward punch to the jaw, and despite Naruto's slight off-balance from dodging the kunai, he managed to get an arm up in time to block. It caught him by surprise when Sasuke grabbed onto his arm at the elbow at the last moment and pulled his arm forward, making his balance even worse. Sasuke turned a bit to the side so that he was pulling Naruto's arm across his chest, revealing his whole side to an attack, and then punched him straight in the side of the face. 

A bolt of pain went through Naruto's body as he felt the brick-like fist collide into his cheek. Sasuke followed through with the punch and let go of Naruto's arm, allowing the force of the attack to send him flying through the air. 

Naruto mentally cursed the sharingan as he managed to recover mid-flight, and rolled his body to the side, putting his legs underneath him. When his hands and feet touched the ground and he began to skid, he looked back to see Sasuke soaring through the air, foot raised high for an axe kick. He pushed off the ground, making some distance just a moment before Sasuke's foot crashed into the ground that he had been at with a colosal thud. 

He touched down again before jumping straight up and disappearing among the trees. 

Sasuke stood straight up, then looked up to scan the foliage. He spotted Naruto fairly quickly between his Sharingan and orange outfit that could be seen far too clearly. He smirked a little. 

"Well if it makes you feel any better, I don't care about the bells, so you can keep it. That just means that you can spend more of the day licking your wounds." 

His plan was to get under Naruto's skin of course, because his experience told him that Naruto fought the best when agitated, though he kept in mind not to piss him off _too_ much. Kiba had made that mistake,and he was not going to just go risk the wrath of the fox just yet, though he did plan to do it in the future. 

The reaction however, was not as he expected, as a head full of blonde hair emerged from the lowest levels of the trees, accompanied by a very confused expression. 

"I don't have the bell...don't you?" 

Sasuke looked dumbfounded for a moment, and spoke before thinking for once. 

"No I don't have, I thought you did." 

"Well I don't..." 

Naruto dropped down from the tree, touching down without making a sound. He put a hand on his chin as he looked up into no where in particular. 

"Well if I don't have it, and you don't have it...then..." 

"Sakura does..." 

Sasuke finished the sentence for him, though it was in a far more bored tone than the blonde, since he didn't really care much at all. He sunk into a light stance, feeling ridiculously generous since Naruto had actually let his guard down completely. 

He waited for the blonde to notice and get prepared as well, only for him to turn around completely. 

"Hm, well then, I guess I'll have to go find Sakura-chan!" 

With that, he took off into the trees, heading no where in particular. 

Sasuke growled to himself and was about to chase him down when he realized that getting the bell meant he'd have the blonde's undivided attention, and it would give him the reason to actually fight back. 

As quickly as it came, the anger flowed out of him, and he took off in another direction to look for their other teammate.

* * *

Sakura rubbed her forehead in frustration as she looked over the small collection of bombs before her. She had looked them over again and again, and she still could not remember the identification of the other 5 colored bombs. She sighed to herself, fingering over one of the light gray ones; the basic smoke bomb. Of all of them, she had the most of these. She dropped them into her weapons bag and turned her attention to the two white ones, the bombs were slightly bigger and unlike the rest, had a kanji character for "Flash" written on it. She bagged them two before looking to the bright gold one. The only one of them that she had, filled with a powerful paralysis powder that would render an opponent unable to move much for at least ten minutes if they breathed in enough. She bagged it as well, the only one of it's kind, and the last one that she recognized. 

The rest of them, she neatly put back into the box she received them in, and put it in the base of her bag. 

She looked up again, she was in a clearing, sitting at the base of a tree just inside. She scanned the trees on the opposite side and on both sides for signs of either boys before listening for any sounds behind her. She pulled herself close to the tree, tucking in as much as possible so that someone coming from behind wouldn't see her. She could list the holes in this plan, and there were many, but she would rather be partially in the open but have a clear sight of anyone coming into the clearing than to be surrounded by trees on all sides. She just hoped that neither of the boys spotted her then went around to surprise her from behind. 

She shut her eyes for a moment, breathing out and breathing in. Her heart had not slowed down since she had sat down, even her plan to calm down by looking over her inventory had backfired to an extent. She wasn't exactly sure why, if worse came to worse, she wouldn't have to fight them. Sasuke didn't consider her rival enough to bother with her, and Naruto would be after the bell alone so giving it to him would free her from a humilating defeat. 

Somewhere, in some small portion of her mind, she fantasied about being able to avoid them long enough to keep the bell. She had managed to outsmart Kakashi enough to almost land a hit, even though he had been paying virtually no attention to her at all. This was slightly different though, neither Sasuke nor Naruto had enough confidence in their skills to completely drop their guard, even for her. 

She shut her eyes tight, trying to calm her breathing and her heart, though it didn't help. What helped even less was the sound of trees rustling behind her. Instantly she went on guard, pushing against the tree she sat at as best as she could. She held her breath as she heard the rustling grow closer, hoping that whoever was coming couldn't hear her beating heart. 

Moments later, Naruto emerged from the trees behind her, jumping through the air from the branches of the she sat at. He landed with a dull thud, looking all around the clearing, but not turning around. 

'He hasn't noticed me...I might be able to get away now...' 

Even Inner Sakura seemed to understand the need for silence as there was no input from her inner psyche. Without a sound, she rolled to the side, managing to get her feet underneath her, the whole time her eyes stayed on Naruto. Once she had the chance, she jumped forward, planning to head into the forests for a clean escape... 

Only to find herself face-to-face with a smiling Naruto. 

She screamed a bit in shock as she managed to skid to a stop before running into him. 

"Hey Sakura-chan!" 

She turned without replying, escaping being her only thought, and she took off back into the clearing. It was only when she saw another smiling face standing in exactly the same place as before that she remembered why she had taken off into the forest in the first place. 

From behind her, a voice arose that startled her. 

"Why are you so jumpy?" 

She turned slowly, trying to calm down. If she lied well enough, maybe she could convince him to head after Sasuke. 

"No reason...just, you know...the exercise...it's hard on the nerves." 

"Yeah, I know how you feel." 

She heard a poof of smoke from behind her, and suddenly some of the stress fell away as she realized that was no longer surrounded. Her mind began to turn as rationality kicked in, she'd find a way to make him believe her, afterall, it was only Naruto. 

Before she could begin to speak, Naruto chimed up. 

"You know, I ran into Sasuke a little bit earlier." 

Sakura's eyes opened a bit wide, though she caught herself in a split second. She was happy at that moment for Naruto's tendency to speak with his eyes closed. 

"Oh really...so I guess that means you have the bell..." 

"Actually, I don't..." 

"Really? That means that Sasuke should still have it." 

"Maybe..." 

"You should go after him then, you don't want him to brag about how he beat you, do you?" 

"No..." 

Sakura began to feel more and more confident with each response she got from Naruto as the look of confusion on his face got more and more defined. 

"Then go get him, if anyone can beat Sasuke, you can, _Naruto-kun"_

She was sure that that would be the end of it, using that title was sure to be the clincher. 

"Well of course I can beat him, afterall, I'll be Hokage someday. It wouldn't make sense if I couldn't beat some random ninja like him. I'm gonna face much tougher opponents in the future, right?" 

"Right" 

Sakura felt her victory within grasp and coasting towards her with no interference. 

"And if I'm gonna beat all those tougher opponents, then I'm gonna need to do a lot training. Right?" 

"Right" 

"Which means I can't be spending my time doing stuff like dog shit-duty. Right?" 

"Exactly!" 

"So then, since you agree, are you gonna just give me the bell?" 

Sakura went cold and paled instantly. 

"W-what? What do you mean?" 

"Are you gonna give me the bell?" 

"But...but I...I don't have it. Sasuke does...remember?" 

Everything was quickly falling apart, and she knew it. Something about the smile on Naruto's face made her feel like a cornered cat being chased by the neighborhood boys. It was at that point that she caught a glimpse of orange among the trees in her peripheal vision, and she realized that she had been lead on the whole time. 

"No Sasuke doesn't have it, and I don't have it either. You know what that means?" 

His smile was taunting. Far too taunting, Sakura gulped before turning about, making a dead sprint to the other end of the clearing, ignoring Naruto. 

She had gone no farther than two steps before she felt a calloused hand grab onto her wrist, not particularly hard, just hard enough to stop her from going on. 

"Ah, come on, don't be like that Sakura-chan...just give methe bell." 

She pulled back against his grip, and he let go. She tripped on her own feet and fell backwards onto her butt. When she looked up, she saw Naruto grinning with that same confident grin of one who knows they've won. His hand was outstretched to help her up. 

She didn't take it, instead she looked to the ground. Here she was, 13 years old, a kunoichi who had graduated near the top of her whole class and top among the kunoichi. Supposedly she was smart, a genius in fact as far as academic knowledge went. Her chakra control was extremely advanced for someone her age, expecially considering she never practiced. She should have been better than she was, she should have been at least a decent ninja. But here she was, sitting completely defeated and outsmarted, and utterly helpless. 

She felt heavy, in an instant she lost hope. Her racing heart slowed in an instant and she could only slump on the ground. Her eyes glazed a bit as she los focus, wondering just why she was trying to become a ninja at all. The whole time her goal had been to run away, to hide, and to escape, yet that wasn't what a ninja was supposed to do. She let out a high and let her shoulders slump forward. 

"Sakura-chan, are you alright?" 

Naruto's voice was filled with so much caring that Sakura was caught partially off-guard and responded before she could even think about her response. 

"Naruto-kun...do you...do you think I'm useless?" 

Even saying the word hurt her, the thought that she could do absolutely nothing had never bothered her before, but this time it struck a bit differently. She had never been able to help, yet she was here on team 7 with two of the best genin in Konoha. 

Naruto was surprised at the odd question, and at first it didn't actually register. 

"What?" 

"Useless, do you think that I'm weak?" 

She kept her eyes on the ground, looking all about uncomfortably. She came to her senses but still couldn't figure out why she was asking Naruto when she knew in her heart that it was true. After all, she couldn't count a single time where she had bravely fought a tough enemy without miserably failing; time after time she had sat back and watched either waiting to be rescued or simply trying not to get in the way. 

Naruto's smile faded a little as the seriousness of Sakura's question occured to him. 

"Weak...why--why would you think that?" 

He added a bit of a chuckle to lighten the mood, though even he could tell that it wasn't helping. 

"Seriously, you hit harder than any girl I've ever seen--well except for Baa-san." 

He started rubbing his cheek in a not-so-fond memory of the many times she had belted him a long distance for doing something stupid. 

"I'm serious Naruto, do you think that I'm a weak shinobi?" 

She was quiet but Naruto could still hear her voice cracking a little bit and it struck a chord in his chest. 

"No, No I don't think that Sakura-chan, why do you think I would?" 

His smile faded completely by now and he knelt down so that he was at her level, though she refused to look him in the eyes. He could see the beginnings of tears at the corners of her eyes and he began to get concerned. 

"Well..." She broke up her words with her first sniffle and drug the back of her hand across her eyes to dry them a bit. "well...it always seems that--that you and Sasuke are so great and strong. Whenever something happens, whenever we run into someone strong, you or Sasuke are always the first ones to fight...and every time you prove that your incredible shinobi...You guys--but...but every time something big happens, I'm always getting rescued...or I'm always getting in the way. And...I--I mean, it must be because...because I'm..." 

Naruto cut in grabbing her chin and taking her attention. Her eyes looked into his instinctively and she saw an oddlyserious look on his face. It wasn't a look she remembered seeing often, but it seemed reminiscent of an adult talking to her while trying to convince her of something important. In his eyes alone she felt something she didn't recognize, though it caused her to start listening intently for the words he was going to say. 

"Sakura-chan, listen to me." 

She did. 

"Do _not_ compare yourself to me and Sasuke, and do _not _compare the opponenets that we have to fight to the ones that everyone else does. We are different Sakura, that's the truth. Me and Sasuke are different, we were born that way, born with incredible power from the beginning. The opponents we have had to fight are opponents that would've killed just about anybody our age. Think about it...Haku? Gaara? How many other people do you know that could've just fought them the way we did?" 

He could see her eyes begin to focus again as she started to turn over what was said. 

"And how many people do you think would have needed to be rescued? The point is that me and Sasuke are different enough. Sasuke has his Sharingan, and I..." 

He thought for a moment about how he wanted to continue. He wasn't speaking to the fox, which meant he didn't have chakra from him. At the same time he didn't want Sakura to think that all his power came from Kyuubi. It took only a moment of looking at her eyes slowly reviving with each comforting word to let him realize that the details of his relationship with the fox were not important now. 

"...I have some of Kyuubi's power. You don't have that Sakura, but it doesn't mean that you can't be a good shinobi. I mean, look at fuzzy brows. He has almost nothing, he doesn't even have the chakra control that people envy you for, yet he's good enough so that I wouldn't want to fight him--even though I could kick his ass." 

He added a large toothy grin to help the mood, and was comforted by a chuckle from Sakura. His mind turned over what to say now, and seeing as how she seemed fully aware again and thinking over his words, he settled for a conclusion that seemed good to him. 

"I guess what I'm trying to say is...How many people do you know that's our age and can go toe-to-toe with Neji in a Taijutsu fight, even for a little while?" 

Sakura looked up at him for a moment before she understood what he meant to say. 

"Just one...a little Hyuuga girl who no one believed could do a thing." 

"Exactly, and do you know why?" 

He stood up again and offered a hand to her to help her up to her feet. She chuckled a little as she took it. 

"No, why?" 

She stood straight up and started dusting off her dress. 

"Because she believed she could." 

He looked into her eyes, happy to see that despite the wetness at the corners, the eyes were their normal shade of bright jade and the comfortable smile on her face showed that she was feeling better. 

It was then that something struck him. 

"Um...I don't suppose this means your just gonna give me the bell does it?" 

Sakura took in a deep breath before taking a look at Naruto. She smiled a bit and slowly shook her head. 

"Darn, me and my big mouth." 

He playfully fumed before turning around and taking a few steps to put some distance between them. 

Sakura sunk into a light stance, a fist by her face and the other hand laid open by her leg. She turned so that her side was facing him, standing comfortably in basic stance. 

Naruto grinned as he turned back towards her and fell into a similar stance. 

"Naruto?" 

"Yeah Sakura?" 

"Thanks..." 

"Don't mention it..." 

He grinned. She charged. 


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks for the reviews guys, they are a real encouragement. Special thanks to **Keltosh**, I loved the review because it was both ego-inflating and constructive. I ask everyone to point out any weak points in the fic because it'll help me stop obsessing over the fine details since I am a bit anal about details in storyline.

Thanks .

Chapter 8:

Trees. Trees. More trees. A sane person could be driven crazy simply jumping from tree to tree looking for someone in Konoha. Lucky for Sasuke, most people could say that he was far from sane. Despite the fact that he could see the finest details of each piece of bark and each leaf, he allowed the scene itself to just wash over and off of him as he continued his search.

He had lost track of time looking for Sakura though he didn't think it had been that long. He spent most of the time half in a state of awareness, and half in a state of deep thought. His body was pretty much on auto-pilot, every so often his attention was drawn to a rustle of a particularly large bug or particularly small woodland creature.

He sighed, and for no particular reason, he simply stopped on a thick branch. His shoulders slumped a bit and his gaze lost focus as he let his guard lax a little bit. For a moment, he zoned out completely, lost in a stream of such complex thoughts that it seemed to himself that he wasn't even thinking about anything at all.

All at once there was a large rustle underneath him and his attention was caught. In an instant he was on full alert, crouching a little bit and in no more than a second his hand was full of kunai ready to throw at the poor fool below. Despite the fact that it was all reactionary, hehesitated for a moment, in his mind imagining that it might've been Sakura passing through.

On the contrary, it was a small bunny that leaped out from the foliage, landing onto the leaves and continuing to hop onward. Sasuke relaxed a bit and almost zoned out again until a small fox kit jumped out of the same bush and continued after the bunny. It took only a few leaps for the fox catch up, and only one more it to leap completely over the bunny and stop it in it's tracks. The scene didn't really interest Sasuke as he figured the fox would simply kill the little thing and eat it, which didn't bother Sasuke at all, though something did catch his eye; a small shimmer of light came from something in the bunny's paws. It wasn't until it had turned completely around to run the other way that he had seen the object, a small shard of broken glass that wasn't particularly sharp on the edges.

The bunny took a leap forward only for the fox to jump over it and stop the bunny again. It growled a bit and sunk into a pouncing stance, and Sasuke could've sworn that it's gaze was on the small piece of glass and not the bunny itself. He relaxed in the hunched over position and watched the confrontation with slight amusement, since he had pretty much resolved that he would be either cleaning up dog shit or washing said shit off his hands for most of the rest of the day.

The bunny stepped back once, clutching the shard like it was the only thing it owned and the fox took a step forward. The kit leaped forward, snapping with it's jaws and stopped just short of the bunny who's reaction only kicked in mid leap. The bunny's step back was late enough to let Sasuke know that the kit had no intention of killing it so soon, though the look of fear in the bunny's eyes showed that both it and Sasuke knew it was competely outmatched. The kit snapped again, a good few inches from the bunny and it stepped back again, though not as far back this time and the movement didn't seem as jerked.

Sasuke watched with interest as the cycle continued, the kit snapping, the bunny retreating and growing more comfortable each time; occasionally a leap or attempt at reteat would be thrown into the mix, but it was very much the same. Eventually, the bunny seemed to get the rhythm of it and it seemed to lose it's fear of the kit, moving against each attack, but smooth enough to show that the fear had mostly drained away from it.

By this time, Sasuke was about to get up and leave, having lost interest in the scrap and believing that nothing worth watching would come out of it, though his attention was caught as the rhythm changed. The kit snapped, but the bunny didn't flinch, instead it stepped back a bit, and while the fox was still out stretched, reached out with it's front paw to strike it in the face. The fox, realizing the change, pulled it's head back and avoided the paw, and lashed out again. The bunny jumped back fully, though placing more weight on a single foot, rose the other one up in the air, and as the kit leaped again, brought to the foot down.

Sasuke rose an eyebrow as the kit managed to avoid the massive thumping, and charged again. Before long, the two were exchanging attacks though the bunny was mostly kept in the same spot while the fox moved about. The advantage was as clear to Sasuke as if they had been ninja's sparring, and it was obvious that the fox was still toying with the bunny and that it could end anytime the fox chose.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed another rustling in the bushes. He thought about sticking around, but decided that he had other things to do at the moment. He let out a slight grunt and rose to full stature, he took one last look two below before taking off--soundlessly--back in the direction he had been going.

Just as he left the branch, the fox managed to get close, and with a quick movement that the bunny didn't expect, snatched the piece of glass in his jaw.

The scene had been an interesting distraction, though it got Sasuke thinking a bit. Seeing the fox had reminded him of Naruto, or more specifically, Kyuubi in Naruto. He hadn't spent too much time thinking about it lately, simply accepting the boy's power as something that was given to him in the same way that he himself had been given the Sharingan. But there was an odd difference between the two of them; in every fight, every battle, everything that had required even a decent level of skill, the Sharingan was the first thing that he would go to. His powerful bloodline being the root of his power, he trusted it for any opponent even close to his level.

Though in the countless fights he had been in with Naruto--both against him and along with him--he had only felt an odd chakra once. He had to admit, Naruto's chakra was freakishly huge for his age, but there was a definite difference between when he had fought him on the roof to the hospital and when he had fought him in the Valley of the End. It sent a chill down his spine even remembering the feeling of the air itself when they had fought, and the odd red eyes had appeared in more than one of his nightmares since the fight. He'd never forget it, and he'd recognize it anywhere.

That was the part that irked him, he'd recognize that chakra anywhere, and he had just tustled with Naruto a bit and he had felt none of it. Kakashi had said they could use all of their powers as long as they didn't fight to kill, and so he had activated his Sharingan as soon as they had squared off. But Naruto fought without his advantage. It was thoroughly confusing.

His train of thought dwindled to almost nothing as he continued on his search and he found himself with little to entertain his mind. It was then that the sound of grunts, shuffling, smoke, and other various sounds of battle alerted him. He slowed his travel and reduced himself to near silence. Up ahead of him the trees parted into a clearing, and from there he could hear the sounds of the tussle originating. The feminine grunts and casual chuckles let him know that Naruto had managed to find Sakura, and reaching the edge of the clearing, he saw for himself a spectacle confused him.

Sakura was attacking Naruto with full furiousity, and Naruto was fighting back--though it was apparent that he was holding back. Sasuke settled into the trees and watched, completely silent.

By the looks of things, Sakura was quite exhausted, but she was still fighting at the best of her ability. She vainly attempted to get the upperhand in a taijutsu battle, every now and then throwing in a basic jutsu. Naruto--on the other hand--had a look of both content and pride as he dodged attacks left and right, throwig shuriken and kunai only to block those thrown at him, and occasionally fighting with the help of a single _Kage Bunshin_.

Sasuke watched as Naruto patiently countered and fended off Sakura until it looked like she was about to fall to her knees. Then--after a moment of staring each other down which was undoubetly so that Sakura could catch her breath--Sakura charged once again, opening with a wide-swing punch to Naruto's left side. As expected, Naruto saw it coming, and stepped into the attack. He side stepped the punch and grabbed the wrist, then with his other hand, lifted her off the ground by pushing up on her waist. He turned his whole body and threw her, upside-down, to the other edge of the clearing.

Only Sakuradidn't see his hand slip into her pouch and retreat with the bell.

Only Naruto didn't see the small golden ball hurled towards him as the girl sped away.

As the plume of golden smoke exploded around an unsuspecting and quite livid Naruto, Sakura's hands touched the ground and vaulted her further away. Amidst Naruto's confusion, she escaped into the foliage, feeling very proud of herself for putting up the fight that she did and getting away with the bell.

A couple of coughs from inside the cloud alerted Sasuke that Naruto had made a rather large mistake, and with a shake of his head and a short grunt, he dropped to the ground and entered the clearing.

* * *

Elsewhere, in the same forest, a gila monster watched a bunny escape into a bush after giving a playful fox kit a rather nice thump to the head. Flicking it's tongue out, it stepped into the clearing, red and black scales clashing against the green around him. The fox kit was still a bit dazed from said thumping; however, a short growl from the reptile alerted it to the presence of the newcomer. The kit turned, and upon seeing the gila monster (and the two illusions that were standing to it's sides) sunk into a pouncing stance; wobbling as he did so.

* * *

"Well that was dumb." 

It was Sasuke's voice that let Naruto know that someone else had entered the clearing, and with a bit of a grumble, he jumped backwards to get a look around. His feet touched down a moment later and he skid back a few inches before coming to a stop. To his left, he saw the bastard, and he crossed his arms before addressing him.

"What do you want?"

"Well, I was hoping that since you got your precious bell you'd be willing to put up a fight."

He sunk into an easy stance, raising his arms and turning to the side. His eyes shifted to his Sharingan in what was no more than a flicker of time.

"Is that all that it'll take to shut you up?"

Naruto also fell into a stance, though it was a bit lower as his legs were spread further. His arms were in fists down at his waist. He cringed a bit as he sunk into the stance, feeling his body resist a little bit. From there he felt the muscles from his shoulder down to his hands and on his torso tensing involuntarily. It wasn't particularly painful, but it was uncomfortable.

Sasuke looked a bit puzzled, under the gaze of his Sharingan, he noticed the every flicker and twitch that Naruto made, and he managed to see his muscles constrict on his neck and face.

Naruto's discomfort further spread as he felt every muscle in his body constrict, and he tried his best to stay pretty still since every move felt like he'd pull something if he did otherwise. It wasn't long before he was grinding his teeth in order to bear the growing pain that came with expanding his chest to breathe. He noticed Sasuke staring and slowly drop his stance, rising to full stature.

"What are you staring at you bastard?"

Naruto shouted for all he was worth, the screaming itself being to ease the stress for the same reason one screams when injured. The fact that it was diguised as an insult did little else than ease his pride, since Sasuke saw through it rather easily. The major discomfort he was feeling was almost as bad as the fact that Sasuke was simply walking up to him and staring at him.

"What kind of fucking jutsu is this?"

Somehow the unnecessary swear eased a little more of the tension, but that didn't change the fact that Sasuke was just mildly walking up to him. It wasn't until he was right in front of him that he stopped. The only part of him that didn't hurt to move was his eyes, so he looked up from his hunched over position.Sasuke put his hand on Naruto's forehead, and the blonde didn't move. He shut his eyes and sighed, then easily pushed against the boy, knocking him to his back.

"What the Fuck!"

Sasuke ignored comment as he watched Naruto hit the ground, eyes scanning everywhere in held back panic. He could see thedesire to flail about in the blonde's eyes. He shook his head slowly turning around and walking away, disappointed.

"Where the hell do you think you're going! What the fuck did you do to me Bastard!"

There was such a sweet, subtle relief with each screamed word, if he hadn't been so angry and uncomfortable, he'd have enjoyed it a little.

"It's kind of ironic, isn't it?"

Sasuke's voice was low, but Naruto still heard him.

"After all that Konoha did in the fight against the Kyuubi, every jutsu and weapon that they tried, all that it took to stop it was a little paralysis powder."

Sasuke turned back with a smirk on his face. Naruto's head rose a little as he glared back into the Uchiha's smug eyes, watching them fade back to their original dark nature.

"What, what are you talking about?"

Naruto didn't shout this time. He merely spoke softly as he attempted to keep from cringing all over his body, the answer to why was clear to him now, and he mentally scoffed himself for inhaling the smoke from Sakura's bomb.

"I don't know much about it, but from what I've heard, the Kyuubi didn't really do many jutsu, but it's chakra was just so powerful that it deflected everything they attacked it with. Obviously, they didn't try that powder that Sakura used, because it's working on you now."

"What makes you think I'm using the fox's chakra?"

Naruto's expression calmed to quiet anger at the turn the conversation took.

"I know your not right now, because I can see it with my Sharingan. It lights up like a bright flame when it's outside of your body, human chakra is blue, and Kyuubi's is red. But the thing is, obviously it does something because you still can't get up."

Naruto's frustration about being paralysed was only beaten by his anger at Sasuke's ignorance of the situation.

"Whatever Sakura used on me has nothing to do with why I'm not using Kyuubi's chakra."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, he reactivated his Sharingan and loosened his limbs a bit. He was hoping that Naruto would flare up a burst of the Kyuubi's chakra and give him a good fight.

"Oh really? Then why aren't you?"

Naruto's anger faded quick as a sudden wave of pity ran through him. He let his head fall back on the soft grass below and shut his eyes. He relaxed his body in spite of the discomfort and merely rested in spite of it. He let out a sigh before replying.

"Why should I?"

The question itself through off Sasuke's guard.

"What?"

"Why should I? Why should I use that damn fox's chakra."

"Why wouldn't you? That thing was the most destuctive thing Konoha's ever seen. It wreaked havoc and instilled a fear that I'm sure even Kakashi hasn't completely gotten over. You have that power, of course you should use it. It--it would be wasted...squandered if you didn't!"

For reasons unknown to Sasuke, anger started to well up in him. The sheer thought that Naruto had such power and didn't want to use it filled him with wrath. After all, he had worked so hard for what he had, and he had taken every opportunity to get stronger. He knew that he would've killed for power like Naruto had, to have it dropped in his lap. He'd go out and kill his brother without a second thought, and he'd show the world who he was. Everyone would know...yet Naruto was just sitting on it. Sitting on a power that he could use to make anyone quiver in their shoes.

"And your point?"

"M-my point!"

Before he knew it, Sasuke was shouting.

"Listen Sasuke, you don't understand why I do this, because you don't have anyone precious. You don't have anyone close enough to you because you simply push everyone away."

"What does that have to do with..."

"It has everything to do with it Sasuke!"

Naruto interupted, agitation coming back. In the corner of his mind, he noted his the tension in his muscles declining.

"Power like this isn't supposed to be used whenever the hell you feel like it. It isn't supposed to be used when you get angry at someone for ignoring you. It isn't supposed to be used when people make fun of you. It isn't supposed to be used to take revenge on the people that make your life Hell Sasuke! It isn't supposed to be used at all!"

There was a certain silence that descended upon the two of them. Naruto was trying to hold his feelings in check as the memories of his unhappy childhood began to resurface, and Sasuke was trying to understand why the words effected him so much. A sudden breeze blew through the clearing, sending Naruto's hair over his face, and Sasuke's back as far as it would go. After the wind settled, Sasuke was the first to break the silence, his control over his voice having been regained.

"Then that makes you a hypocrit doesn't it?"

Naruto let out a sigh.

"That power isn't supposed to be used Sasuke, but sometimes it has to be. But those times aren't for when you run up against someone who's strong. Their for when you run up against someone stronger than you, and someone you want to protect is in danger. You use it when you have to win a fight for someone else's sake and you can't take a chance upon losing it."

There was a long silence before Naruto continued.

"When that snake-bastard gave you that love-bite. It gave you a whole bunch of power, but it wasn't yours Sasuke. Having it doesn't make you a stronger ninja, it makes you a weaker one with a trump card."

Naruto managed to get himself into a sitting position, the pain mostly gone, now he was just numb in the parts that weren't tensed. He saw no flicker of anything in Sasuke's face as he spoke, but he looked at him with eyes that showed so much pity that Sasuke could almost feel it. It angered him a little, but he didn't show it.

"I don't use Kyuubi's chakra often, because I don't become any stronger using it. It's not my strength, it's not my power, so the the wins aren't mine either. I only use it when I know that I absolutely have to win, otherwise, I rely on my own strength."

With a little ache and the lasting numbness, he pulled himself to his feet, albeit slowly.

"If anything, I figured that you'd understand that."

Sasuke's gaze made a slight shift into a glare.

"That doesn't make any sense you know."

"Well, the only time I've ever fought you with Kyuubi's chakra was when I chased you down. All the other times when we've fought to draws and all the times that I've beat you, those were the wins that I remember. The ones I'm proud of because I've earned them."

"Your saying that you can match me without Kyuubi's chakra?"

"Well..."

Naruto sunk into a stance, he forced that lasting discomfort out of his mind. He didn't like the idea of fighting numb, but he'd be damned if he punked out now.

"You've got those eyes of yours, you tell me if I use that damn fox's chakra!"

In an instant Naruto sprung forward, almost catching Sasuke off-guard as he closed the difference. Sasuke loosened his limbs just in time to dodge to the right and narrowly avoid a punch. He dodged back to the right to avoid another one, then jumped back as Naruto tried to side kick him above the hip. He skid to a stop a few feet back as Naruto charged forward. He noted that Naruto's movements were still a bit on the slow side, but he was still a bit peeved at the moron for his stupid philosophy and decided that he wouldn't hold as much back.

He deflected a punch with his wrist and dodged under an inside chop. He noted the opening made as Naruto spun from the attack, but stepped back to avoid a punch come from a plume of smoke to his right as a _Kage Bunshin_ came out of thin air. He smirked, loving the advantage of his Sharingan as the clone jumped over him. Naruto charged forward, pincing Sasuke between himself and the clone, as he attacked again.

Sasuke decided that now was the time to counter, and ducked under a blow from behind from the _Bunshin_. He effortlessly, fingered a kunai from his pouch and flicked it backwards, nailing the clone in the chest and dispelling it. Then, he parried a forward punch with his own wrist and went in for a punch of his own.

Just before the attack connected, he saw Naruto smirk. Then there was a flash of blue so bright that Sasuke was forced to shut his eyes. He felt the blow connect, but was more concerned about his watering eyes, wondering where in the hell Naruto got the notion to release such a burst of chakra like that.

Naruto took the opportunity to grab Sasuke's wrist and pull him forward. He caught his own footing and turned the wrist, then reached with his other hand to push the elbow so that it bent at the joint. He stepped to the side so that he was behind Sasuke, pulling his arm so that it was laying against his back, when pulled it up as to increase the pain. He then swept Sasuke's legs from under him and leaned forward, effectively sending both of them to the ground. With his weight he held Sasuke's arm in place, and quickly drew a kunai and put it up to Sasuke's neck.

It all happened so fast that Sasuke was still stunned, angry that he had taken that time to shut his eyes. But it had been forced and he knew that. He cringed as he realized that Naruto had bested him fair and square, though the blonde's heavy breathing went to show that it had taken a toll on him.

"So..."

He said between labored breaths, a smile on his face. He was still mostly numb but it wasn't interferring with his movements too much.

"Who's chakra did you see?"

Sasuke was seething, and if it wasn't for the blade against his neck, he would've wriggled out of the basic arm lock he was in and showed Naruto what happened when you pissed an Uchiha off. His mind quickly listed things he could do, trying to figure out the best solution to his current problem.

The sound of something small moving through the air alerted both of them to a new threat. And the both turned their heads to see a small white ball flying through the air heading for their vicinity. It spun in such a way that you couldn't see the clearly the black Kanji that was imprinted upon it, but they both realized it was something bad.

Naruto pulled the kunai away while distracted and Sasuke started to try and force him off, at the same time, he tried to get up to get away. The result was the both of them sprawled on the ground until just before the ball landed. They managed to get to their feet and jump away, shutting their eyes at the last second as they realized what the Kanji character read: Flash.

As soon as it touched down, there was a soundless explosion of light. The clearing was filled with such a brilliant white flash that even through closed eyes, it seemed bright. The only thing that either of them heard was the light sound of a bell ringing.

Sasuke was the first to react, waiting for the flash to die down to look around. He quickly saw Sakura making a dead sprint for the line of trees to his right, he could faintly see the glint of a bell in her hand. In slight agitation, he moved as quick as he could, hopping forward a few strides before jumping over her to cut her off. She skid to a stop, surprise in her eyes as she saw Sasuke just come out of nowhere.

She stepped back a bit, analysing the area around and looking for another escape route, she clutched the bell close to her chest. She nearly jumped when she heard a voice from behind.

"Sakura?"

She looked over her shoulder to see Naruto rubbing his eyes, she figured that he didn't cover them well enough in the flash.

"You're headband Sakura..."

Sasuke got her attention again with the notice of the slight change she had made before attempting her plan. The leaf headband glinted in the sunlight over her forehead, some of her hair falling over it in the front.

"Yeah..."

"What about it?" Naruto called from behind, unable to see it.

"She moved it over her forehead." Sasuke called, more to Naruto than anyone else.

"Oh, that again?"

"What of it?"

"Oh yeah, you weren't there. She did that in the exams. Somethin about being seen as a ninja I think..."

Sasuke turned to look at Sakura looking for her response. In return, he got a shy nod from her, before she gave him a more firm one. She slid the bell back into her pouch and fell into an uneasy stance, her hands held open out in front of her.

* * *

Elsewhere, a fox kit and a gile monster stared each other down. Each had scratches of their own as they looked at and through each other. The shard of glass forgotten to the side, they were about to charge in again when the bunny from befor re-entered the small space. It leapt through the air, kicking both animals in the face as it passed and scooped up the shard of glass. It was about make an exit as the gila monster grabbed a hold of it's tail in it's jaw and drug it back, causing the poor creature to land right between the two combatants.

* * *

Sasuke shrugged, then, before she noticed, he was before her. He moved so fast that she couldn't see him, and in a likewise manner, she didn't see his fist hit her face. The only thing she had that the sudden sensation of pain flow through her body, starting from her face. She vaguely heard Naruto cry out in surprise, though she didn't pay it too much mind as her attention was wrapped around the jolt that assaulted her now.

She flew back, the force of the blow carrying her off her feet. It hurt so bad that she wanted to cry, she had never experienced a direct blow of that magnitude before. The pain was only matched when she felt herself hit something solid. She realized, after a moment, that the large solid object that caused her whole back to erupt with pain was a large tree. She blinked open her eyes, her mind fuzzy as she tried to figure out what the hell to do, Naruto had held back, she could deal with that. Sasuke wasn't, and if he was it wasn't near enough.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw a colossal ball of fire head her way. She went cold and her breath hitched in her chest. She froze up completely as she realized that she was going to die. She couldn't scream, she couldn't move, all she could do was close her eyes. The heat from the flame closed in, making the air around her go from warm to scorching, then just like that there was the cool feel of a breeze.

She opened her eyes again to see Naruto holding her bridal style, his eyes focused on Sasuke. She looked over to see him, looking at Naruto, completely indifferent. The moment was interupted as Naruto touched down, the sudden jolt bringing back all sound and sensation to Sakura as the shock of what just happened slowly ebbed away. Naruto set her down, legs first and let her stand. She heard him ask if she was alright, and she merely nodded, not making a sound. She let herself fall to her knees, hugging her arms as she tried to cope with near-death, her head bowed to the ground. There were tears in her eyes.

"You Bastard! What the hell was that for!"

Naruto shouted for all he was worth.

"You would've killed her. What was the big deal with that! Kakashi-sensei said not to fight to kill!"

Sasuke scoffed, feeling a little better to have his stress relieved.

"The same reason I attacked you the way I did."

Naruto's mind wheeled back a moment before he realized what he was talking about, and a fresh amount of rage erupted in him.

"She's not a decent fight for you Sasuke! Don't treat her like one! I can't believe you, you fucking bastard! What the hell is wrong with you?"

Sasuke's eyes got a bit dangerous as he began to glare at Naruto.

"She was the one that said she wanted to be treated like a shinobi, not me. I did like she asked!"

"You fucking idiot! That means she wants us to stop babying her. That doesn't mean try to kill her, that means work with her!"

Sakura was beginning to shake a little bit, and she almost jumped when she felt a hand fall on her shoulder after a nearly inaudible "poof".

"Time!"

Kakashi appeared out of no where, a hand on Sakura's shoulder, the other one pocketing his book.

Naruto and Sasuke slowly cooled down as they turned to look back at Kakashi.

"Well, that was some show. Congratulations Naruto, you can go home. Sasuke, come with me. Sakura, you know where the park is, come by as soon as your feeling alright."

And with that, Kakashi was gone.

Sakura stopped shaking a little bit, and looked up a Naruto, who was looking down guiltily.

"I...I--uh...I snatched it when I saved you from the _Katon_."

She nodded in understanding then went back to trying to steady her nerves.

Sasuke grunted then turned and walked away, heading towards the park, and knowing he was gonna get a major ass-chewing from Kakashi for putting Sakura's life in Naruto's hands like that.

Naruto walked over to Sakura and sat down in front of her, grabbing her chin and raising it so that she was looking into his eyes. There were tear-streaks all down her face, but she had stopped shaking.

"Sakura-chan, are you gonna be alright?"

"Y-Yeah..."

He was surprised that she actually spoke, but was happy that she did.

"Sorry about the bastard..."

"No...no, it's ok. I...I shouldn't have frozen up like that."

"What? No, Sakura, don't blame yourself. It's his fault, he shouldn't have gone so hard on you like that."

He saw her start trying to get to her feet, and he rose to his own. He grabbed hold of her elbows and slowly helped her up.

"But...if it had been another shinobi...they wouldn't have held back..."

"That may be so...but..."

Naruto found himself at a loss for words. He knew she was right, she knew she was right, but saying the right thing right now wouldn't help her feel better.

"No Naruto...I...I can't slow you guys down anymore...not without trying at least."

Naruto could only look at her, her gaze was off to the exit where Sasuke had just left. He still couldn't find the words to say, and it pissed him off.

"I have a mission to do, thank you Naruto, but I have to go."

She walked by and he stepped to the side, still speechless. Her steps were still a bit wobbly from the punch to the face, but she was walking. She had walked only a few steps before she stopped.

"Naruto, after the mission, do you wanna come by today and help me traina bit?"

Her question caught his attention, and he finally had something to say.

"I can't today, I have someone to go visit in the hospital. But, tomorrow will be fine. Is that okay with you?"

She smiled a tired smile and noddedbefore turning and walking away.

"Oh yeah, Sakura? Try and get some ice on that cheek as soon as possible."

She kept walking but held a hand up to wave to him from behind. He grinned to himself as he turned to exit the clearing the other way.


	9. Chapter 9

Alright, I guess I should apologoze for a few things.

First of which is my arrogance, I shouldn't have been so demanding about looking for a BETA, it was really piggish and stupid of me especially because I have little room to brag about grammar.

Second of which is where I have brought this story. I've noticed that is has slowed down and I'm thankful for everyone who stuck through it just because you liked _Look to the Future_. It's been my observation though, that many fanfictions reach a point where you only read it because it's there, and not because you actually want to read it. That has killed many fics before for me as I just lost interest and I fear that mine has reached that point. Bear with me as I try to do what I haven't seen done before (at least very often), and that is bring another interesting section of this story.

Chapter 9:

Normally, a hospital is a quiet, bland place where hundreds of people either fight to stay alive, or take precautions to stay healthy. Those who aren't struggling are the ones who've already lived through the trauma and are on their way to recovery, basking in the silence interrupted only by pleasant _beeping_ of machines that let them know that they are alright. Knowing that family and friends surround them at the time they are weakest, they go on with a smile on their face happy to see those who truly love them, and with a new outlook on life, they re-evaluate their lives. Some find religion, some find love, some find resolutions. Then there are those that celebrate new life, the realization that through the most pain and the toughest hardships can come the most beautiful creatures that either enrich a life or destroy multiple ones. Normally, it is in silence that all this is observed, the peaceful serenity setting an atmosphere of life and death; however today was not the case.

Naruto shouted for all he was worth at the two ANBU guards standing at the door to Tsunade's room. He'd been here an hour and had tried to go in but was rudely held back and turned away. The guards stood unmoving, they had seen the kid attempt to get through the door for the last hour and they had grown used to his loud and obnoxious screaming. Years of assassinations and slow missions taught them the value of patience, and they knew that the young blonde was far from pushing them to the breaking point. One of them was actually impressed by Naruto's vocabulary and made a few mental notes of insults that would reduce a normal man to tears if coupled with some nasty genjutsus and intimidation. Over the course of the hour, they had watched him try multiple different tricks, trying to fool them into letting him through, each of which was sharply denied. At first, they shut him down at the first sign of chakra usage, though after a while, they began to find amusement in his schemes and even let them get to the last steps of his plans before stopping him. He had impressed them both in the Chuunin Exams, and he was impressing them now, though required professionalism kept them from telling him. Though it did help them feel much more accomplished since the level between "almost Chuunin" and ANBU was greater than they had remembered.

Out of the corner of their eyes, they saw a modest looking nurse walking down the hall. Clad in a white uniform with the shirt all the way zipped up and a skirt that came a little past her knees. Glasses sat on her nose and poorly hid hazel eyes that stared at the ground. She took small steps and clutched a clipboard close to her chest as if she thought she was being stared at from all sides. She walked down the hallway, shrinking away at the loud sound of Naruto's voice but walking nonetheless. It took a little while, but she finally reached the door to Tsunade's room, and she slowly and hesitantly brought her eyes from the ground look one of the ANBU in the eyes.

"Excuse me...I...I need to c-check on Hokage-sama..."

Her voice was soft and frail and she blushed as she stuttered, as soon as the words left her mouth, her gaze hit the floor again and she watched his feet. After a moment, she heard him shuffle and saw him move slightly to the right, allowing her passage into the room. She muttered a thanks so quiet that it could hardly be heard and took a step forward.

No sooner had she stepped than the ANBU grabbed her arm and violently tugged her back. He pulled her out of the door way and back into the hallway, and without saying a word, he grabbed the clipboard that covered her chest. She looked up as if she was about to scream but at the same time, looked so scared that she couldn't utter a sound. Her eyes got small and scared as she tried to back away from his grip, slowly shaking her head while looking straight at the ANBU mask with a panicked expression. With an effortless motion, the ANBU threw the clipboard across the hallway, and hit the still screaming Naruto straight in the chest. There was a puff of smoke and the _bunshin_ disappeared, the ANBU then brought up his freehand in the sign that Naruto recognized as the single seal for a dispell jutsu. The nurse had enough time to form a sour expression before a puff of smoke surrounded her. The ANBU held the arm, and felt as it went from a sleak and feminine one, to a small and course one. The smoke disappeared and Naruto stood there, his arm still being held and the sour expression still on his face.

He took a deep breath to start swearing again, but was thrown back to the place where his _bunshin_ had just been a moment ago. When he caught his footing again, he looked up to see the ANBU just standing there as always. He was about to start unloading a fresh new vocabulary on them when he heard a slight snickering coming from the guard who had just watched the whole thing.

Naruto formed his best glare at the ANBU.

"What are you laughing at?"

The guard merely continued to snicker until eventually his shoulders started to shake a little. Naruto did his best to deepen his "glare" yet got the feeling that it wasn't as effective as Sasuke's or Neji's.

"Hey! What? Do you think that was funny?"

"Yeah kid, it was."

Naruto was surprised, that was the first words he had heard come from the ANBU since they said he couldn't come in an hour ago. As taken aback as he was, he regathered his composure quickly.

"You think it's funny now, just you wait. I'll get in there, I swear."

"Right kid. Just a word of advice, shy women don't walk with a sexual switch in their step. If you're gonna imitate one, make sure that you get all the details correct."

"Oh..."

The advice also surprised Naruto a bit. Something about the detached nature of ANBU didn't allow him to expect that they would ever be helpful unless they were doing things related to ninjutsu. Thing was, he caught himself switching at the end of the hall and made note not to do it since he realized that the more sexual illusions didn't seem to work on the ANBU. Since that point he was sure he didn't walk provacatively at all and even had a mental image of Hinata to use as a reference point.

"How did you know? I didn't walk like that except at the end of the hallway."

"We knew that was a _Kage Bunshin_ since you sent it over here seven minutes ago and had it start screaming at us. It moved slightly different and the language wasn't as original, so knew that you were distracted with something else, from there we just had to watch for anything out of the ordinary, and a shy nurse that swings her hips on one step then stops is definitely out of the ordinary."

From there the other guard continued.

"Though it was impressive, you should make in interesting ninja, especially if you couple that with the Kyuubi's chakra like you did in the last Chuunin Exam."

Naruto sighed, it wasn't the comment about the fox, it was that he was simply running out of ideas, and that scheme was one of his more brilliant ones. It was slightly annoying, yet at the same time it was comforting to have an ANBU say that he was impressed with the ploy, even if he picked it apart so easily. He was a bit surprised about the casual mention of Kyuubi, though he let it slide. He leaned back against the wall, standing directly across from the doorway. He could see Tsunade's bed though it had wooden boards attached to the sides that blocked her body from view and direct projectile attack. It was frustrating that his goal was so close, yet at the same time, was so impossible to achieve.

Heslid his hands into his pockets and closed his eyes, trying to keep his frustration down. He fished around until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a silver shuriken, sharp and usable, yet it glimmered in the light, polished and clean. The ANBU switched to being on-guard without hesitation and watched the boy with a keen eye while still watching the surroundings. A sad expression went onto the boy's face as he looked at his reflection in the shuriken.

"You know...when Ero-senn--I mean--Jiraiya-sensei and I first found Baa-chan, she said some things that got on my nerves. At first she didn't want to be Hokage, and she had even gone and said that the _Sandaime_ had wasted his life trying to be the Hokage...It made me so mad that..."

Naruto let out a sad chuckle as he turned the shuriken around in his hand and returned to his story without looking back up at the guards.

"...that I challenged her to a fight. I don't know why she accepted, maybe because she had a little too much to drink, but we went outside right afterwards to fight in the street. I drew a kunai, and she drew a silver shuriken just like this one...she told me that since it was silver that it couldn't be thrown against a normal steel weapon or else it would get ruined, so when we fought, she held it and waited until the right moment, then she threw it when I couldn't deflect it and pinned my shirt to a wood fence."

He looked up at the guards with a sad and partially empty look in his eyes.

"Later on she told me that that shuriken was a gift from an old friend and that she cherished it so much that she never used it unless she was sure that it wouldn't get ruined from the throw. I spent the whole night thinking about it and working on a jutsu that I was working on, and passed out from exhaustion later on in the night. The next morning she said she had a change of heart and we started heading back for Konoha. We spent the whole day walking, but I was exhausted and fell behind and by nightfall we got attacked by thieves. I think some of them had ninjutsu training because I couldn't hold my own as tired as I was...I remember turning around and seeing a kunai flying towards me though, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to react in time. All I could do was shut my eyes and wait..."

He paused a second letting what had happened sink in before continuing.

"I heard the sound of metal hitting metal, but it was softer than I normally hear it. I looked up to see the kunai was nowhere to be found andBaa-chan was punching the last thief in the face. I looked down and I saw that silver shuriken, bent and deformed on the ground...she let it get ruined to save my life."

"I just wanted to surprise her with another one..."

He took a step forward and held out the hand with the shuriken and the guard on the right took it so gracfully that Naruto hardly felt it leave his hand. He let out a sad smile and turned to walk away.

"Just make sure she gets that ok?"

The ANBU chuckled again before grabbing Naruto by the shoulder and pulling him back again.

"Nice try kid, that one almost worked."

Naruto groaned and waited. The guard's hand slid up his shoulder and into his neck, dispelling the _Kage Bunshin_ in a plume of smoke. Then he tossed the shuriken down the hall and watched as it also exploded in a plume of smoke, only to have an annoyed blonde go flying out of the cloud. He rolled over in mid-air and put his feet underneath him to touch ground first. He slid on the tile for a few feet before stopping and he stood up to full stature, his face in another sou expression.

"How did you know that time!"

"That time was only intuition kid."

Naruto took a second to ponder that, extremely upset that his double ploy had failed, especially after he took the time to construct that lie.

"By the way kid, I think someone behind you is trying to get your attention."

"Huh?"

Just as he muttered that, he heard a small meep from behind him and he turned around in time to see the last strands of black hair disappear behind a corner.

"Who the...?"

Naruto muttered to himself as he apporached the corner, positive he had seen someone or something disappear behind it. He didn't really give much thought to it, but he assumed that it would at least distract the guards from him long enough to get another plan in motion. The thought of even recruiting whoever was hiding from him even crossed his mind, and with the gears in his mind turning, he rounded the corner and ran right into the bearer of the black hair he had only gotten a glimpse of.

The sound of impact was coupled with only the small "meep" as the Hinata fell to the ground.

"Hinata-chan?"

Naruto's face turned quizzical as he reached out to help her up. Dressed in the same light blue jacket along with a pair of form fitting shorts in a color something close to navy, she lay there not moving and not looking up at him. He caught her eyes go wide for a moment before she turned them to the ground, her face was already turningthe ratherdeep shade of red that he always seemed to see on her, jumping off of her skin as noticeably as the moon in the night sky. She supported herself on her hands, laying them on the ground, palm-down.

"H-hello...Narut-to-kun."

She seemed to shrink into the ground as she spoke, and she turned over and pushed herself up to stand on slightly wobbling legs. It didn't particularly offend Naruto that she didn't accept his hand, since he noticed that she never seemed to actually see it. When she managed to get to her feet, her hands quickly dropped before her and she clasped her hands together, with the right covering her left, and set them as far down as her arms would allow. She kept her head bowed, masking most of her _Byakugan_ eyes from Naruto's gaze, and some of her black locks actually shifted on their own to cover some of her face.

Her whole form seemed to shake as she simply stood there in his presence, and Naruto was beyond confused at the girl's strange actions. She looked so fragile that part of Naruto wanted to simply step away before he could break her and be blamed for the damages, but before he could slowly back away, he saw her draw a deep breath as if summoning the courage to speak to a king, and he stayed put for whatever she decided to stay.

Hinata's body quivered and her voice caught in her throat for the third time. She opened her mouth to speak but found her throat close by a will other than her own. Her heart pounded and her stomach constricted as she tried so hard to talk to this boy before her. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't speak, all she could do was quiver as she tried in vain to ask the simplest of questions. A simple question that raced through her mind, that she mentally berated herself into a corner trying to ask.

_What are you doing here?_

That was it, that was all. Yet, for the life of her, and everything else within her, she couldn't manage to summon the courage to say those five words.

"Hinata-chan...what are you doing here anyway?"

She drew a quick breath in surprise. The last thing she had expected was for him to address her with the same question she meant to ask him. At that moment, torn between her deeply engrained sense of formality and her inherent terror of talking to the boy, she sat a a cross-road about whether or not she could answer him.

"I..."

Her voice was so frail that Naruto barely heard it, and inwardly he groaned. The last thing he felt like dealing with right now was her inability to speak. Normally it wouldn't have bothered him, and on some level he felt a little guilty that it was now, but those damnable ANBUs had gotten under his skin with their smug confidence while guarding the door, and he was beginning to woner if he should just put a Rasengan through which ever one he could touch first. As for now though, he mentally counted the seconds that it took her complete her answer and wondered if she would answer him at all.

"K-kiba-kun's here...I just wanted to..."

Her voice faded into nothingness as she spoke and she attempted to shrink away into nothingness yet again. She bowed her head further to an angle that Naruto assumed was hurting her neck and she squeezed her hands down in front of her so that Naruto could hear a crack or two of her knuckles, which caused her to shrink some more.

He had forgotten that Kiba was here, and now that he remembered, he figured that he should at least apologize to him.

"Do you think he's awake?"

A simple nod of the head was her only response, and Naruto sunk his hands into his pockets as he looked to the ceiling.

"Well, I mind if I come with you?"

Hinata's eyes rose to meet Naruto's for the first time in the whole conversation. Her whole body jumped a little as the surprise of his offer hit her. Her eyes were wide and Naruto managed to pull his gaze from the ceiling to meet her gaze. For a single moment, they looked into each other's eyes, neither moving, neither having even the intention of moving, and in the same time it took for the moment to occur, it passed and Naruto shut his eyes and dawned an innocent smile.

Seeing him so happy and seemingly carefree brought a small smile to her lips, and she managed to turn an even deeper shade of red.

"T-that would be nice, Naruto-kun."

And with that, the two took off down the hall. Naruto's mind a flame with all the things he needed to say to Kiba; of apologies and condolences. Hinata's mind was at a sense of half piece; between standing next to Naruto and wishing to speak to him. Each donned a smile on their face for completely different reasons, masking completely different thoughts; and the two walked down the hall with the same destination in mind.

Author: I can't think of anything that I should say that could convey apologies. I'd say "I'm Sorry" but that generally means that it'll never happen again. I can't promise that the next chapter will come soon, and I can't even promise that it'll even come at all. _Look to the Future_ has been my pride and joy, and _Causality_ has been a fic that I enjoy writing, but it seems that whenever I try to sit and write, every possible distraction comes up to block me. And every so often I think about simply giving up and not posting another chapter. To me, that's the coward's way out of a commitment I have made, but that doesn't make it any easier to sit down and put more wordsdown on these pages. I am not expecting to discontinue this fanfiction, though I ask that you simply bear in mind that I don't know when the next chapter will come out, it could be tomorrow, or in 3 months. If I apologize for anything, it'll be the frustration that you may go through waiting for another chapter, if any actually experiences any.


	10. Chapter 10

Thanks for the reviews, especially the obscenely long ones, they made my day... even though that was like 2 months ago.

Apologizing for the delay would mean that I meant to update sooner next time. I won't promise that because I don't know when I'll actually finish another one, since I have a tendency to sit and write, then set it down for a few weeks, then pick it back up... etc.

Got my Naruto music files working again WOOT!

Chapter 10:

Naruto was thirsty. As he walked along the hallways of the seventh floor of the hospital, all he could think about was the subtle dryness at the back of his throat. The minor ache consumsed enough of his mind to keep him from talking to Hinata, who remained just as silent. He walked by pure reflex, his guard completely down as he pondered what exactly he felt like drinking. It was no small decision, because it wasn't an "I need water" thirst for general dryness, nor was it a "I need milk" thirst for having too many cookies or chocolates. If anything, it was more like an "I need something subtle but sweet, yet full of flavor" thirst but that wasn't exactly right, and the only thing he was positive would settle it was ramen broth.

Naruto was thirsty. Naruto had a problem.

Hinata wasn't sure that what was happening was real. Here she was, standing so close to the object of her affection that she could actually reach out and touch him. She couldn't speak, but it was more because she couldn't find anything to say. Her mind was racing at hundreds of thoughts per minute, yet in all of the chaos, there wasn't a single thing she could think to talk about, let alone open the conversation. Though despite all of that, it didn't bother her too much. She wasn't beating herself up or thinking about how useless she was, she simply stood and walked.

Her heart had slowed to a normal pulse a little while ago, but she still blushed whenever it seemed that he would catch her glance. She would look away hurredly everytime, but he never made any mention of it. Eventually she settled for merely listening to the quiet drag of his feet with every step of his right foot, just before it landed. He smelled like sweat and dirt, and she was almost positive there was a faint smell of burned fabric. It was a masculine scent that gave of an air of the same nature, and when she snuck a glance at his boy-ish face and pudgy cheeks, it seemed slightly out of place.

The two walked in near silence until they found themselves at a fork in hallway. Hinata thought nothing of it, but to Naruto, it was the most beautiful thing he had seen in a long time. At the end of the fork was a small section set aside with chairs and a television, though all of that paled in comparison to the holy grail of the hospital: sitting on one of the walls of the waiting room, in what could almost be described as shining glory, was a vending machine.

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks as he stared down the hall, or more specifically, the metal god sitting quietly, waiting to reward any follower that would pay appropriate tribute. Yellow paint on the side for a background to a brand of canned tea that he never drank, was all that Naruto saw, but even though he couldn't see the exact contents of the machine, he had faith that it would take care of his needs. His right hand sunk into the pocket of his jacket and fingered around until it reached the familiar size of a 100 yen coin.

Hinata realized he had stopped after only taking a single step and stopped to look at him, though his gaze never wavered from the hallway towards the waiting room. He smacked his lips and tongue as he looked on in almost a daze before finally turning to her with a very wide grin on his face.

"Uh, Hinata-chan? I'll be there in a second...but I'm really thirsty so..."

He simply let the sentence drop off at that point, and she looked at him dumbfounded for a second wondering if he would continue speaking or not. Upon realizing the latter, she found herself unable to do anything but giggle at his antics.

Taking the laughter as a "Sure, go on ahead" Naruto walked down the hallway, still fingering the 100 yen coin and thinking harder about what he wanted to drink.

* * *

Every room in a building is different in some miniscule way or another. A crack on a wall, a collection of dirt in a corner, a spot on the carpet, or a chip in a tile. It doesn't take much to make a room all it's own, to make an individual thing out of the squares and lines that the achitect sees or the impersonal support and walls that the contruction workers build. No one in Konoha appreciated the subtle qualities that made every room different in the same way that an Inuzuka did. The Hyuuga looked over and through everything, not focusing on the detail and noted how all the rooms looked identical, and the Uchiha were no longer around for contest, but the Inuzuka could tell that no matter what, no two rooms anywhere in all the countries combined could ever smell exactly alike. 

The room Kiba was in was a single bedded room with a television that he had turned off long ago when he realized it only had one channel. The walls were so white that it was almost a crime to have windows because the sun reflected hard off of them. The floor was made up of white tiles that had occasional scratch marks from an object that was too heavy being moved across it. White door, white ceiling, white sheet, white bed, Kiba had heard rumors that the Konoha hospital had driven more than one person to madness, and somewhere in the recesses of his mind, he found it amusing that it was as probable as it was.

Though in the state he was in now, he had no room for laughter. He sat at the head of the bed, his back propped up by the crappy pillow that was about as comfortable as bed of leaves, and he was scooted a bit to the side so that Akamaru could rest his head on said crappy pillow. Fortunately, there were no IVs in him nor any feeding tubes since he was capable of all that on his own, but there was still the incessant beeping of the heart rate moniter that was attached to a tube that was taped to his chest under his white hospital robe. His hands were bleeding from holding the last of his shuriken in his hand too tightly, and thus, some of his blood had managed to get onto the opposite wall, along with the majority of his weapons. There were only six in the wall, but there were another twenty marks where blades had been lodged in and removed.

Akamaru whined a bit again. Kiba had been doing this since Nira had come to visit him a few hours ago just after the surgery had been reported a success. She brought the shuriken hoping that it might make him feel better to be partially armed since she was going through the stress of not being so. He was worried for Kiba though, it's not everyday that you end up in the hospital with a wound that might end your career, and it's even slimmer of a chance if your sister comes in two days later saying that it was no ordinary child but the carrier of a demon. He shivered a bit at the memory of Naruto's chakra on the night that this had all started, it was so different than it was in the Chunnin exams, more potent, more deadly. The killer intent had been so raw and pungeant in his chakra that the dog had actually pondered holding his breath during the fight. It had reminded him too much of the boy from Sunakagure for his own comfort, and he wished that he would have gone with his instincts and warned Kiba to back off. He knew better though, the look in Naruto's eyes, as well as the determination that he knew Kiba felt would have insured the fight carried on.

The dog let out a light sigh and a whine that human ears couldn't pick up before turning his gaze back to Kiba. His sides were a bit sore from the minor scratches he received, but he pushed himself to his feet and pivoted himself completely around without moving too much in the little space he had. He looked back up into Kiba's eyes, his whole being seemed so distant that the dog found himself at a loss of what to do. Kiba's whole body was tense, and with Akamaru's nose, he was sure that a fresh flow of blood had just been generated in the boy's hands. Red, swollen eyes were the highlight of theboy's face as his jaw clenched in anger and the dog knew immediately what was to happen next. He climbed up as best as he could while putting no pressure on the chakra-healed inscission marks on the boy's stomach, his hind legs sitting right on his thighs, and his his forepaws pressing against his shoulders. He leaned down and buried his muzzle in his master's neck just as the boys hands suddenly wrapped around him and held him close. And with his best friend consoling him as much as a dog possibly can, Inuzuka Kiba cried and cried as he had been doing since "success" of his operation.

The tears flowed freely and bitterly as he wept and and even wailed a little. All sense of bravado being left on the operating table since the only ones in the room were himself and the dog that could be described as nothing less than an extension of himself. His shoulders shook against the tiny body against his chest and he held on fast, silently thanking God that the pup's injuries weren't so bad as to keep him from standing the embrace. He cried because he was miserable, he cried because he was in pain, he cried because life wasn't fair and there were no happy endings he could see. He cried because his life had vanished in the blink of an eyeand he cried because he didn't know what he was going to do, but most of all, he cried as it hit him once again that his best friend now shared the mortal life of each and every other canine walking around Konoha. Amidst his tears he cursed himself, cursed the new weakness he had attained, he cursed knowing that when Akamaru's natural life span had ended he would not be able to sustain the dog on his own chakra as all other Inuzuka before him had. He would be stripped of thecomfort ofhis dog sharing his dying breath and that on his death bed at the end of his own natural life, he would be more alone than any Inuzuka had ever been. He cried and cried and cried,and though no tears fell from Akamaru's face, the dog wept inwardly, not for his own mortality, but for the grim future of his best friend and master.

Kiba weptso hard that he didn't notice the door crack open, he didn't notice the small meep of a girl outside, and he didn't noticesound of his room door closing afterwards. He clutched his dog in his arms until the wave of emotion passed over him and his cries slowed to a painful stop. When the tears had stopped and all that was left was the leftover sniffling from a good cry, he looked down into the eyes of his best friend.Likewise, Akamaru looked up into the eyes of the only true friend he had in the world,though the dog was the only of the two of them with a smile on his face. With a single yip, he conveyed his sentiments to the Inuzuka boy in a way that he knew only he could understand.

Slowly, a bit of a smile crept onto Kiba's face as he looked into the smile of his best friend. He wiped his eyes and nose on the sleeve of the hospital gown.

"Yeah, you're right. This isn't going to stop us."

Akamaru yipped again, his support conveyed in the pitch of his call, the wag of his tail, and very human looking smile on his muzzle. The next sound heard in the room was the soft knocking of his door, which caught Kiba by surprise.

"Eh? Come on in."

He figured it would be a nurse, coming to check on him, and he had to admit that he hoped it would be one with good news. He was surprised to see Hinata behind the slowly opening door, though it wasn't a completely unwanted visit. Truth be told, seeing Hinata illicited a gamut of emotions that he never thought the girl could stir.

He was happy to be around one of his comrades, one whom he trusted more than his own family. His faith in the girl remained unshaken ever since the Chuunin exams. She had tried hard and steadily improved, though it was most satisfying to see her more bold on the battle field. Where once was a timid girl on the verge of breaking, there stood a bashful Hyuuga, who was still aHyuuga nonetheless and showed that to all the enemies that they encountered.

On another hand, he was worried by seeing her. Only moments ago, he had been in such a state that he nevered showed to anyone other than Akamaru since he couldn't remember. The very few times that tears pierced his eyes, the only one who had seen it was the one who couldn't tell a soul if he wanted to (save another Inuzuka). He wasn't sure how long Hinata had been outside, though he wasn't foolish enough to believe that his face had completely cleared up.

Another part of him was filled with a sudden deep weight. He didn't feel any draw on his chakra being used, though he had inwardly hoped that his chakra was still being sent to his nose and he simply didn't notice. Though he'd never mistake Hinata's scent, and even with her slowly walking into the room, he could only pick it out of the air because he knew what to look for. It was too faint for his sense of smell to be what it normally was.

The last, but most powerful, and most confusing of the emotions he felt though, was a strong protective impulse.

"Oi, Hinata. You came to visit me?"

She walked in the room without further hesitation. She carried a smile that was so bright that it put the shining of the sun off the walls to shame, though it was far more welcome. She stepped in, shutting the door behind her, and forced the scene she had just seen from the front of her mind.

Kiba's stomach turned inside out at that point as heavy realization donned him and he suddenly felt weighted down. No one knew the lengths of Hinata's infatuation with Naruto more than he did. Sometimes, he even believed that he knew more about it than she did herself. He noticed the subtle changes in the way she stood, the way she walked, he could hear the change in the pace of her breath when he was brought up.Most disturbingly, as of late, he had been able to pick up the odor of excitement when he was brought up in conversation. He was no stranger to such a scent, living in a house with two women, and Inukuza women for that matter who weren't shy about human sexuality at all; though smelling it come off of a girl like Hinata, it was disturbing.

It had taken him a long time to allow himself to allow the girl he saw much like a younger sister to have such a reaction to any boy. Many frustrated nights trying to sleep despite the murderous intent he felt towards Naruto, after a while he finally accepted that Hinata was a young woman, filled with feminine hormones as well. Though a new layer of protectiveness clouded his judgement as the another angle of enlightenment became apparent.

His face shifted into a look of utter determination as he realized what he had to do.

"Hinata... I need to talk you. It's about Naruto."

* * *

The process was arduous, even downright painful to an extent, though Naruto had finally reduced his selection to two choices. His fingers rested on the slit in the machine, long since having let go of the 100-yen piece. His eyes looked over the last two choices in utter hesitation. They were both from the same brand, Ko Cho Ka Den... both the most popular canned tea among the Konoha youth, and the only brand that he even bothered to try. Though the decision became difficult when it came down to the actual drink to choose. 

The display had a white background, 16 different drinks shown by way of empty cans behind a glass case. Two rows of eight, and on the top, on the far left was the first of his choices. Ko Cho Ka Den's Apple tea, concealed in a green can no more than 5 inches tall. It had been his more recent encounter with the brand, and it had a taste that was so soft that one could miss it if they didn't look for it. It wasn't bitter but it wasn't too sweet, and the slight tinge of apple was only surpassed by the apple after taste with every swallow. He tried it on a whim, it was less popular than the traditional Lemon tea that had every teen in Konoha hooked, but it was good. Part of him felt special because while everyone else sported the yellow Lemon tea cans, he generally walked with the green one. Below the can, "A1" was printed in brown ink. His fingers moved to thecombination pad, almost ready to punch in the code until his other choice grabbed his attention.

On the bottom row, two cans from the far right, above the "B6" inscribed in brown ink, was an empty can of Ko Cho Ka Den's best selling Garden Lemon Tea. The can was intricate yet simple, yellow background with a glass of the tea and ice, a box of red concealing the words "Garden Lemon Tea." along with the famous characters Ko, Cho, Ka, and Den. It was everywhere, almost everyone had a can at some time or another. It was impossible to fathom that anyone could actually try it and not like it. It was subtle much like the Apple Tea, though it had a slightly more sour tinge to it. The faint lemon was a little bit subtler than the apple in the Apple Tea, though the aftertaste hit the taste buds in a much more fulfilling way. It made one stop and think because one could only enjoy it if they stopped, and even though it would surprise most, Naruto was capable of stopping to enjoy it on occasion. It started with a desire to fit in, much like many of his customs,he bought a can from a store and took it home, planning on trying it first in the comfort of his own walls. When he first popped it open, he was filled with an anticipation that he couldn't descibe. Before him, he believed, was instant popularity, all he'd have to do was drink it in public and instantly all the stares and glares would turn to looks of approval. He was young, and he was restless, so his first drink of it was meaningless. To him, it seemed almost like water at the time and he left it on the table in exchange for some ramen.

The can sat there all day and into the night until he was awakened by a midnight thirst. Groggy and cranky he walked into the kitchen, stepping over the trash.Clothed in white pajama pants and a white t-shirt, he sought something to parch his thrist, and the first thing he was was the "weak" tea that was almost like water that too popularfor it's taste. He pickedit up, slow and dazedly, and took another drink. It was the same, but it was different. His reactions slowed and hisenergy dispelled, he actually sat therefor a moment and turned the tea overon his tongue before swallowing. It was that night that Uzumaki Naruto became yet another drinker of Ko Cho Ka Den, though not nearly as religiously as his peers.

Seeing the can brought many memories, both good and bad, and even seeingit let his mindvisualize the taste off memory alone.B6... A1... it was hard to decideat first, though the nostalgiac memories settled the debate quickly. His finger grazed the "B" button easily and moved towards the "6" until he suddenly sneezed. By sheer accident, he pressed the "5" instead, and with a heavy heart, he realized that his chance at happiness was gone. He didn't even look to see what the drink was, because he knew he'd hate it.

Angrily, he turned back into the hall to make his way to Kiba's room when something caught his attention out of his peripheal vision. An open door marked "745" but what was on the inside caught him slightly off-guard. He stopped to look, turning his head completely to watch the scene before him. Sitting on a patient bed was a young woman, by the looks of it, she was not much more than five years Naruto's senior. Strands of blonde hair reaching down to her shoulers and parted before her face and eyes that looked hazel from where Naruto stood. Sitting next to her, facing her from a seat, sat a boy who looked around the same age. Dark, thick hair that wasn't really curly, nor was it straight.

He couldn't see the boy's eyes, though he could tell where they were. He could almost see their reflextion in the girl's eyes. Even from where he stood he could discern the scene. Small movements of lips betrayed quiet words, the dreamy look in her eyes was testimony to her affection, and the fact that her small hand was in his showed the truth of their relationship.

Naruto turned and continued just as the two leaned in for what he presumed was a kiss. His steps continued slowly, destination set in auto-pilot, but his mind stuck on the only three words he could discern from watching her lips.

_...I love you..._

He missed the rest, though he didn't care. Honestly, he wasn't sure why he was thinking about it now. He'd seen that look before, seen it been given by others, to others, though he'd never received it and he'd never given it. It would be a lie to say it never bothered him, but just like most things, he'd come to ignore it. Though as of that moment, his footsteps stopped. His mind turned over what he saw again and again, and rather than simply scoffing it off as a fantasy he knew he'd never obtain... he began to wonder what it was like to feel that kind of affection.

No one ever described it to him before, and he'd never known anyone that was actually experiencing that save for Sakura. Though even she didn't have the satisfaction of having it returned. He'd never known anyone to describe that dreamy expression, or the calm quiet that he often saw young couples indulge in.

His hand rose up and landed on the wall to his left. His gaze fell to the ground as he let the wall support some of his weight. In an instant, he felt heavy. Heavy with longing for something he'd never experienced, and never really thought he would. He let out a soft, sad laugh to himself as he spoke to himself in a whisper.

"I guess dying makes you think about stuff differently..."

As if on cue, memories of what he saw from Tsunade's jutsu flooded into his mind. A warmth wrapped around his thoughts as he recalled excerpts in such realism that he could have sworn that for a brief instant, that he was in the forest with Konohamaru and Ebisu again, or the clearing the strange Hinata he'd seen, and even in this very hospital.

_"Didn't he understand that there were people who admired him...people that liked him...cared about him? People that loved him?"_

Naruto froze completely as he remembered the words that Hinata uttered between sobs and amuck emotions. Suddenly, by a will not his own, he was running towards Kiba's room to find Hinata, and ask her what exactly she was talking about.

Author: I can't go on... I can't bring myself to add any more to this chapter. I feel like I've failed... there was more that I had to say... but it was simply too long...

I can't promise anything about the next update other than the fact that my personal favorite portion of this whole long mental story is coming up soon. Mind you, this fic is not going to be focused on romance... so don't think that it's going to become a super fluffy NaruHina from this point on... because it won't.

Anyway, until next update.


	11. Chapter 11

Yes this is a repost of chapter 11. More importantly, this is an apology.

This fic has been unofficially discontinued for quite some time now, I wanted to aplogize for making such a decision without at least letting you guys know since you have been faithful in reading. It was imature of me as a writer, period. I would like to state at this point that the status of this fic is on the fence. I don't like where I was planning on taking it so I have to make some alterations in the future plot which I'm not sure how long will take, nor if I'll ever actually iron out a decent next piece.

I got bored of it, and looking at what was to come just didn't make me feel like writing. In all honesty, if I do pick this back up, it'll be because of the readers that have been faithful more so than for myself, even though I have had the itch to write recently. Anyway, please forgive me for being this way, I'm sure that I'll put out something soon, just not sure how long it'll be before then.

Chapter 11:

It's always eerie how most major storms tend to have a bone-chilling calm afterwards. It always tends to seem like the more destructive the storm, the more peaceful the calm. More often than not, it doesn't seem right to walk out onto a street with fallen trees and shattered windows when there is nothing more than a gentle breeze, a slight chill, and a few sparse droplets of rain. It's unnerving, yet it's also a relief because it's a reminder that every storm could be weathered and that all that is left to do is start rebuilding what was broken.

Room 715 was no different.

It was rare to see Hinata upset, even rarer to see her visibly angry. Kiba had been privileged enough to see Hinata actually come to the point of shaking only once in his life and he wondered if he, Shino, and Kurenai had been the only ones to see the usually docile Hyuuga passionately angry. Even still, Kiba was surprised at how angry she had gotten, but then again, perhaps he had asked too much of her.

He sat there, unmoving on the bed, his legs hanging from the side while Akamaru sat patiently on the floor. He didn't move much, he didn't say anything, and he didn't pay any attention to his surroundings. The room was quiet and peaceful, it didn't even show any signs of the storm that took place. To the common observer, what had happened wouldn't even seem like much of a storm at all.

It started simple, a request that he knew she'd have trouble following. It continued into a lecture on why he would make such a request. It developed into an exchange, emotional yet controlled, not quite a debate yet at the same time opinion was voiced with fact as support. In an instant, it changed into an argument, though it was rather tame not considering the persons involved. It fell into a plea, one to another, guardian to charge, brother to sister. It ended in a quiet departure and an apologetic decline.

All-in-all, it was very civil, very calm, very collected. It seemed like a conversation between friends that was emotional enough to ask for privacy, though not enough to be sufficiently worried. To Kiba and Hinata however, it was so much more. Kiba knew how much Naruto meant to her, the blonde didn't have just her affection, but also her attention and her inspiration. He had never seen the Hyuuga as strong as she was when Naruto was around or even simply brought up. He was the center of her focus, the point around which everything in her life, every goal and dream revolved. He was also dense enough to not notice it.

Kiba had asked her to do more than just drop her affection, he had asked her to drop the center of everything important to her. It was a huge thing to her, and despite the fact that she never screamed nor shouted, that she shed neither tears in sadness nor in anger, and that her decline of his request was quiet yet firm; it hit her in a way that even Kiba wasn't sure he understood. It was a subtle way to step, to hold herself up, the change in breathing, the look in her eyes, the fact that she wouldn't look him in the face. It was a million little things she did to show how she truly felt, a million signs that Kiba examined and interpreted, it was a countless amount of negligible detail that lead Kiba to a conclusion that he wasn't even sure if Hinata had realized.

As she walked out of the door to his hospital room in utter silence, she left behind a teammate that she had not forgiven.

Perhaps that was why the room felt so heavy, and why Kiba felt so guilty. Perhaps that was why he felt like his world just fell into another level of chaos. Perhaps that was why when Naruto came barreling into the room with a noise level and lack of grace unique to the blonde alone, Kiba wasn't sure what exactly to do.

"Oi, Kiba! Where is Hinata?"

For once, Naruto was not in the wrong for being oblivious to the delicacy of what had just transpired. He was breathing a little more labored than normal and turning all about, looking for the girl that had quietly walked out only minutes ago. Just as he entered, the weight of the room disappeared from his disruption, though Kiba didn't say anything.

Feeling annoyed at the lack of response, Naruto turned back to the silent patient and was about to ask again when he noticed that Kiba wasn't looking at him. Naruto was dense enough to completely miss all of Hinata's affection, but he was no where near dense enough to realize that something was wrong with Kiba. In the air of Kiba's uncharacteristic silence, Naruto also found himself with nothing to say, and his gaze hit the ground as well.

For a while, the only sound in the room was Akamaru's whining, quiet and sparing, the dog let it's voice relieve some of the tension bit by bit. Naruto wanted so badly to say something, feeling guilty about being the cause of Kiba's misery. Kiba couldn't figure out what he wanted to say or how he wanted to feel towards the one who ended his career. The silence was suffocating, and if it had not been for Akamaru, it would have been unbearable. Just when Naruto thought he'd lose his mind though, Kiba finally found some words.

"What do you want with Hinata?"

Any surprise at hearing Kiba break the air wasn't shown as Naruto merely stood, shifting uncomfortably. Neither boy looked the other in the eye.

"I just wanted to... you know... ask her something."

There was another pause, another whine, and a heavy sigh from one boy then the other.

"Ask her what?"

Something about the mood kept Naruto from getting mad, from demanding why in the hell Kiba needed to know what wasn't his business. The guilt he felt was overwhelming, so much so that he simply couldn't bring himself to bring any conflict. He stuffed his hands into his jacket pocket and tried to sound as casual as possible.

"I think she might know someone that I need to find."

It went silent again.

The silence became unbearable when Akamaru ceased to whine. The silence of the room brought back the heaviness from the conversation with Hinata as well as the awkwardness of the moment. Kiba remained still though Naruto shifted nervously, his hand reaching up to get lost in the blonde spikes on the back of his head.

Of the two of them, Naruto definitely had it worse. Upon his shoulders was the guilt of having ruined the life of one who didn't deserve it and the foresight to know that it was indeed ruined. Technically Kiba had brought Kyuubi out, though Naruto couldn't help but feel that the fox getting out was a sign of his own weakness. He couldn't help but feel that he failed to protect a person that wasn't as precious as some, but precious nonetheless. That was unacceptable.

Kiba wallowed in the silence, drowning in his own confusion. From the moment of that jutsu he used, Naruto had changed completely. His eyes, his poise, his motions; they all seemed so much more primal and animalistic. The smug look on his face behind crazed, blood-red eyes and the fangs that had grown in almost instantly. The cold laugh and the fascination that lit up his face every time he landed blow after merciless blow. None of it seemed real, and even seeing the blonde before him didn't make it seem any more possible.

Oddly enough, despite the fact that both boys were thinking about it, the air was simply too heavy to speak. Each of them buried up to their necks in their own thoughts, though neither attempting to put the issue out on the table. It was utterly suppressing, and making both of them utterly miserable.

The clicking of the door was the sound that broke the silence, and just as when Naruto entered after Kiba's talk with Hinata, the appearance of the random nurse diffused the tension of the room as if it drained right out the open door. Both looked up as she walked in hesitantly, sensing that there was something a bit off, and she clutched a clipboard over her chest. Neither paid any mind to her or even bothered to note her physical features, though both were able to breathe a sigh of relief at the sudden ease of the room.

Naruto took the opportunity to escape, swiftly stepping past her to get out of the room. It was quick, it was light, but it was desperate. As he passed out the door frame he muttered out an "I'm sorry" as he exited into the hallway, hell-bent on getting out of that suppressing atmosphere.

Kiba only sat there as the blonde left the room, still feeling like none of his questions had been answered. Before he could sink into his thoughts though, the nurse mentioned something about needing to do another post operation check-up. He complied off-handedly and laid back down on the bed.

All the while, Akamaru remained silent.

* * *

If she had to point out a particular spot, then she'd have failed because there was no definable spot where the pain began and ended. It touched her mind and face, reaching down into her lungs and chest, stretching out over the muscles in her arms and fingers and trickling down her legs and enwrapping even her toes it seemed. There was no other way to describe it other than to say that _she_ hurt.

She was simply so sore that it was maddening. Spending an hour in the park hunching over to pick up dog droppings did very little to ease the overworked muscles from the training session earlier in the day. She walked, nevertheless, intent on getting home despite the fact that she still had a jutsu to work on. The thought of doing more work alone caused her to grimace, though she wanted to prove that she could learn it... even if it meant that she would be moody as hell the next day.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a clock hanging on the inside of a shop. She grimaced as she realized the time, knowing she'd have to make a quick shower. With another grimace she picked up the pace, her goal being more time under that heavenly cascade of watery goodness.

It was 2:14 pm.

* * *

When Sakura had left, it had been 2:05 give or take a few minutes as best as Sasuke could remember. Kakashi had started the "training" session roughly 5 minutes later, which should be 2:10. They hadn't left or anything, just had the session right there in the park for all to see. It was not in Sasuke's nature to openly question what confused him, and that particular issue was no different.

As of now, he was neck deep in soil with an array of kunai and shuriken lodged in the soft dirt surrounding his head. He could hardly move underneath the ground, which made it frustrating because a few of the cuts he had received were beginning to itch and he wanted to scratch them. Kakashi had left a few minutes ago, not really giving a reason other than some lady crossing some street with some out-of-place animal going to trample her that was in dire need of a rescue.

It didn't take long to realize that this wasn't really a training session since there wasn't any real training going on... just Sasuke trying vainly to avoid jutsu after jutsu that Kakashi unleashed at him. Of course it hadn't lasted all that long and when Sasuke found himself neck deep in soil with many, many sharp projectiles being hurled at him, he found himself panicking just slightly. Kakashi had been courteous enough to set and activate something like 3 kunai traps from different angle so that in the end, all of them just collided with themselves and lodged themselves harmlessly on the ground next to him. A few nicked him here and there, but he remained rather unharmed.

Kakashi didn't have to say anything for Sasuke to understand what the lesson was. He hadno intention of ever taking extreme measures on a teammate again. Or at least not Sakura.

He grimaced to himself as he started trying to dig his way out. Out from behind him he heard some passing seniors having idle chit-chat and one of them mentioned the time.

It was 2:37 pm

* * *

Perfect. Kiba scoffed as he paced around the room. The nurse that had done the check up said that everything was perfect. Out of the corner of his eye, he looked up at the clock on the wall.

3:00 pm

Perfect... he'd been pacing for an hour now and still didn't feel any better.

He almost growled as he continued to pace angrily through the room, his bare feet smacking against the tile. Akamaru sat patiently on the bed, his head turning back and forth to follow his master and best friend.

It was simply too frustrating to stand still. The day had been far from a calm one and it wasn't close enough to being done. Perfect, all the nurse had said was that everything checked out to be perfect. So perfect in fact that he could leave later in the day most likely.

The "minor discomfort" in his stomach that made him wince with every step was completely normal. The amazingly frustrating feel of being suppressed and fairly drained was also expected. Even the ridiculously low flow of his own chakra, which he was having more difficulty feeling was just fine.

He scoffed again as he made his way to a small closet with wooden, white, double doors. Popping them open with a scowl, he found the replacement clothes his sister had brought for him some time ago. Some of his extra training shorts that he wore most the time, dark blue as always but he only had one jacket which had been sufficiently ruined. In it's place was a plain black t-shirt and an ash-grey fleece vest that still had the tags on it.

As Kiba changed his clothes, all he could think about was that word "Perfect" and as he popped open the window to get out of the God-forsaken hospital with his slightly unsure but reasonably quiet companion with him, he glanced over to the clock again.

3:04 pm

He had plenty of time to just walk around and get some fresh air before the nurses came back to check on him... assuming he felt like coming back.

Jumping from the window of the 7th floor and falling the full flights without fear, he realized at that point what having his chakra messed up really meant. He grimaced, feeling his own chakra seem to fight him as he molded it within his body as his form grew closer to the ground. It wasn't particularly hard to get it moving, but it seemed like it took far too much work to get it into his legs, and when he landed on the ground with a soft "thud" he felt like he had just sprinted a quarter mile's worth attached to the ceiling.

Picking himself up off the ground and dressed in a rendition of his old clothes, all he could do was mutter the word "Perfect" under his breath.

* * *

Bored, bored, bored. Naruto was bored. Depressingly enough, that was the major reason that he found himself outside of Sakura's house with the setting sun to his back. The golden orange rays caught up in his hair and jacket-pants combination and would have made a beautiful painting against the rich brown of the oak door he was standing in front of. Unfortunately, there was no painter around... so the scenic value was lost to all since Naruto's gaze of his own back was very non-existent.

He had searched for Hinata for all of about 2 hours before finding that she was within the Hyuuga compounds. He had spent another 30 minutes looking over the outside to find an entrance, his prankster's intuition guiding him and leaving him with absolutely no way in.

He'd spent another 40 minutes just walking aimlessly through Konoha. No purpose, no destination in mind but he did end up having a few bowls of pork ramen at the Ichiraku which he was still happy about. Amusingly enough, he had passed Ino's shop by accident to see a sight that had the child in him reeling so hard that his sides were splitting and he had to run into an alley to keep from rolling around in the street.

Behind the glass doors of the flower shop, dressed moderately in a black t-shirt/slacks combination and sporting a white apron with the kanji for "Yamanaka" on the chest, was none other than the chuunin that had attacked him in the street. Looking confused and miserable, she was being led around the store by a very chipper looking woman with blonde hair who was rapidly pointing out flowers and utilities of the store.

He was laughing so hard that he was beginning to cry, knowing full well that her nose was in utter Hell right now by the look on her face alone. Deciding not to tempt fate, he scaled the nearest building and continued on along the roof tops while he continued his stroll.

His feet lead him to Sakura's of their own accord and he decided that he'd follow upon the promise to help train with her sooner rather than later. So here he was, hand poised to knock on the oaken door with a huge grin on his face, ready to get his colleague's attention. From inside, he heard the slow chime of a grandfather clock, signaling the time. He counted the chimes, deducing the time before he knocked.

His knuckles rapped the wooden door at 6:00 pm.

* * *

Showers were wonderful things, especially after a long day of training, actual training. The kind of training that one puts himself through after being thoroughly trounced by one's sensei. The lesson may have been focused on telling him to pull his punches when teammates were involved, but it also showed him some of his weaknesses in approaching opponents that vastly outclassed him in skill.

He'd spent a good hour merely brooding over what had happened after pulling himself from the ground in the park. Another 20 minutes had been devoted to trying to figure out possible better approaches for a situation when running from a stronger opponent wasn't an option. He'd stood in the middle of the area he had set aside in the abandoned Uchiha complex for another good 10 minutes trying to go over meticulous details of the short "spar" he'd had with Kakashi. From there, he threw himself to something close to an hour and a half of merciless training that left him thoroughly exhausted of stamina and chakra.

The training grounds were marred and blackened from his varying renditions of Katon jutsu. He was rather proud of himself actually, putting more emphasis on making a quick jutsu powerful enough to cause damage, then adding the enhanced evasion abilities that came with the fore-sight of the Sharingan. The combination ideally wore down an opponent assuming they underestimated him long enough for him to get a kill strike. It was flawed, but it was better than running around aimlessly an tossing shuriken and katon jutsu here and there like he had done earlier in the day.

Either way, the shower felt really nice, and even standing in the bathroom with a towel draped over his shoulders and behind his neck to catch the water that dripped from his hair, in the steam from the hot water, it just felt pleasant. He stood nude, looking at the reflection of his face and shoulders in the high mirror as he merely contemplated. Chain of thought lead him eventually to the matter of apologizing to Sakura and within the 6 minutes that it takes a guy to get from stepping out of the shower to fully dressed, he was adorned in some clean white shorts with a fan-toting blue t-shirt. 4 Minutes to make sure he wasn't missing anything, and Uchiha Sasuke was out the house, glancing at the clock out of the corner of his eye as he made his way silently into the abandoned roadways.

"Hn"

He muttered to himself as a breeze caught his damp hair, forming a chill at the top of his head. He wasn't surprised actually, the dropping sun and cooling air a testimony of the time.

5:50 pm, but that clock was slow 5 minutes.

* * *

Amazing. Utterly and absolutely amazing. Yet at the same time, it was utterly and absolutely frustration. Naruto's left hand was holding part of the jutsu scroll, letting the paper itself lay across his lap. The basics of the jutsu were laid out there, while the practice tips for mastering were rolled up further within. Despite that, 3 smoke bombs lay in the upturned palm of his right hand where seconds ago, lay only one.

Sakura's jaw dropped as Naruto basically performed the jutsu that she had been taking the long way around for the last 4 hours. All the little recommended exercises and meticulous practices that were meant to lead up to actually mastering the jutsu were completely bypassed.

It had been an hour ago that Naruto showed up at her door offering to help her practice. She let him in, hoping that he'd maybe provide tidbits here and there but remain mostly quiet so she could do each exercise efficiently. Most of them she got quickly, but there were so many, each miniscule practice emphasizing an area of perfection needed for the jutsu, and she has happy to know that she wasn't far from completing it. But Naruto didn't do any of it, he merely did the jutsu...

He sat there, giggling just slightly at Sakura's completely awe-stricken expression.

"What? It's just like the k_age bunshin no jutsu_. I could teach you if you like..."

Sakura nearly deflated. Naruto was special, special indeed. A look at the family room's grandfather clock told her that he basically did 4 hours worth or her work plus some, in the span of 1 hour. She managed to laugh a bit before conceding.

It was 7:07 pm, she was hoping to get all done and in bed by 10:00 pm.

* * *

The sun was just sinking under the horizon, giving that creepy yet dazzling display of purples that mixed with the blues of the night sky and the last remaining dark orange rays of the setting sun. Dusk always confused Kiba, no matter how many times he saw it, he could never figure out why some of the colors were there and no other time of night. Here, standing in the clearing where team 8 had done most of their training when they first assembled, it was nice to have a pleasant distraction by looking at it again.

On his right wrist was the watch his sister had left in the ash colored vest and with a twist of the wrist, he read the time.

7:15 pm.

Shino would be having dinner right about now. Since, as far as he knew, that family had a thing about eating dinner at exactly the same time every night when in Konoha. His bug-crazed teammate had left 15 minutes ago to make it home in time.

Akamaru merely sat, his side warming against the side of Kiba's bare shin. A chilled breeze cut through the clearing, bringing a fresh collage of scents that were annoyingly dull to the Inuzuka. It reminded him yet again of his sudden mortality.

He felt naked, unarmed, defenseless, and helpless all at once. It never really occurred to him until Akamaru whined out that Shino was hiding in the trees and watching him. He didn't react really, other than growling slightly because he couldn't discern his teammate's position. He had checked his watch absently, it had been 6:13 pm, and he spent the next 47 minutes standing in that exact same spot, listening and looking to discern the Aburame.

At 7:00 pm, Akamaru had whined that Shino had left, leaving Kiba to feel truly miserable with himself.

From that point, he channeled chakra into his nose again in frustration, feeling the immediate strain of it. He could tell the difference immediately though. When he had done it before his fight with Naruto, it was more like expanding the flow of his chakra to incorporate his nose as well as the rest of his body. The chakra looped continuously so that it hardly took any effort and the slight change in his chakra eventually was no longer noticeable. This time, he could feel it flowing out of him when he moved it out of the natural path. Almost like he was simply burning fuel to keep the jutsu going, and the drain rate was incredible fast.

By the time 7:13 pm rolled around, he was breathing hard and released the influence he put on his chakra.

So here he was, at 7:15 pm, watching the mystery of dusk and wondering how much longer he was going to stay. He shivered a bit as a gust of wind cut into the open, fleece vest and he curled his arms around himself to keep a bit warmer.

* * *

One last pass. That was all Naruto was asking of Sakura. She was tired, he could see that. Tired and drained with dirt and scratches littering her clothes and skin. He taught her his trick to the jutsu, which lead to her piecing together his _Kage Bunshin_. Not that it bothered him, but she picked it up quickly and 20 minutes after he completed it, she did as well.

5 minutes later, they were working on application. In Sakura's backyard, having something along the lines of a training/sparring session. The jutsu proved rather interesting as it allowed Sakura to replicate any explosive weapon she drew with absolute precision. She got the technique down to the point were she was capable of making 2 replicas with hardly more than three hand seals and a slight shift of her chakra.

Each replica work as efficiently as the original, which did wonders for her ammo supply.

They had been at this for an hour and a half-ish. Her parents had long since gone to bed for reasons that neither they nor the shinobi in the backyard cared to speak about. The time had been spent with Sakura producing bomb after bomb of various kind and trying to nick Naruto with one. Naruto, having a fresh memory of the paralysis from before didn't want to take chances on the weapons themselves, nor the smoke afterwards.

All in all, Sakura attacked, Naruto dodged. Sakura learned, Naruto watched. Sakura smiled, Naruto smiled.

He promised her this would be the last pass so she could go inside and clean up, she looked like she needed the shower and rest. He recognized the weapons she palmed as simple grenades on color alone and braced himself for impact as she came. In the back of his mind, something bugged him but he didn't pin his finger on it since she was approaching.

She tossed the first and jumped to the side. He dodged, jumping to the other. The explosion was bright and yellow, the sound was loud and it left yet another crater in the ruined grassed area. She tried to catch him with the second as he landed, but he got his foot to the ground just quick enough to turn his body to avoid it narrowly. He darted to the side yet again, using the explosion for momentum as he traveled through the air.

He saw the last one coming for him with well calculated accuracy, intended to reach his destination just after him and nail him in the chest. Neither really expected it to hit him because both knew that Naruto would touch down, then with the necessary momentum, move his body out of the way.

As his foot touched down, that's what he planned. As he began to twist, he saw the grenade moving quickly and still gauged that he had plenty of time. As he was about to pass out of the path of the grenade, Kyuubi made a violent roar of fury within his head that seemed to shake his eardrums from the inside. In the split second that his focus was lost, the grenade connected with his ribcage at the very left of his chest, almost nicking it but having enough force to trigger the explosion.

She may have been surprised to see the explosion indicating that Naruto had been hit. She also may have been surprised to see his body flying across the yard from the force of the explosion and hit the large cherry blossom tree in their backyard. She was most definitely surprised to see him hit the ground flatly after a painful looking impact with the tree.

But none of that compared to how surprised she was when he picked himself off the ground almost immediately, though slowly and rose his eyes to look at her. She caught a glimpse of his eyes only momentarily because he jumped up onto her roof immediately and took off into the night.

She wasn't sure what had happened, but she caught the glimpse the kitchen clock through a window.

9:03 pm.

Confused, but curious, she set off after Naruto, intent on finding out why he took off so suddenly, but more importantly, why his eyes were such a deep shade of crimson.


End file.
